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1 8 




THE LIFE 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LLD,, 




LONDON: 
WALTER SCOTT, 24 WARWICK LANE. 

NEW YORK : 3 EAST 14th STREET, 
AND MELBOURNE. 




PREFATORY NOTE. 



1STE does not see that much preface is needed 
now to a life of Dr. Livingstone, for his name 
has become a household word ; but perhaps a 
few sentences, by way of justification, may be allowed for 
adding one more to the already numerous biographies 
which we have. And undoubtedly the great reason is, the 
perennial human interest there is for all — young and old, 
learned and unlearned — in the record of his eventful life. 
Other explorers we have had whose fame rose as high, but 
it lasted only for a few years. The influences of Dr. Living- 
stone's life-work, on the other hand, are so far-reaching 
that his fame is above the passing feelings of the times. 
Although ten years have nearly passed since he died, his 
memory is as green and fresh to-day as ever. Indeed, no 
one can read his life without admiring and loving the man. 
Above his greatness as an explorer rises the massiveness of 
his character ; and his large-hearted love for the poor negro, 
his deep hatred of the accursed slave trade, his sturdy 




4 PREFA TOR Y NOTE. 

independence, strong iron will, stern tenacity of purpose, 
and calm fortitude under trouble or disaster, stamps him 
a truly great man. Goethe tells us that — 

"Great men, like celestial fire-pillars, 
Go before us on the march," 

and such an one was Dr. Livingstone. The ultimate results 
of his travels in opening up the hitherto unknown continent 
of Africa are really incalculable. His life, which he sacri- 
ficed for the country he cared so much for, is a seed which 
will grow and flourish for a thousand years to come. 

Already we have had many missions and expeditions 
following up in the paths he opened, and although the 
results are not great as yet, one cannot doubt but that a 
mighty future is in store for Africa. 



2d June 188& 



1 it^u\ 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Early Years — Education — Arrival at Cape Town as a Missionary 7 
CHAPTER II. 

South Africa and its People — The Bushmen, the Hottentots, the 

Kaffres, and the Bechuana Tribes, and their Habits, &c. . 18 

CHAPTER III. 

Dr. Livingstone arrives at Kuruman — Missionary Experiences 
— Letters and Reports — Adventure with a Lion — Marriage 
— The Bakwains attacked by the Boers .... 34 

CHAPTER IY. 

The Kalahari Desert— Discovers Lake Ngami — Yisits Sebituane 

— Death of Sebituane 55 

CHAPTER Y. 

Extracts from Published Letters— The Slave Trade . . . 71 
CHAPTER VI. 

Starts on his Great Journey — Ascends the Leeambye and the 

Leeba — Reaches Loanda— Yisits Sainte— Weak from Fever 87 

CHAPTER VII. 



Stay at Loanda — Starts on Return Journey — Dr. Livingstono 

again Struck Down with Fever — Arrival at Linyanti . . 120 



6 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. ' 

PAG 38 

Starts for the East Coast— The Victoria Falls— The Batoka 
Tribes — Reaches Zumbo — Departure ftffb England -— 
Enthusiastic Reception . . . *^'^> ^£ ' . 133 



CHAPTER IX. - " 

Dr. Livingstone and his Fellow-travellers Leave for Africa — 
Ascends the Zambesi and the Shire — Discovers Lakes 
Shirwa and Nyassa . 159 

CHAPTER X. 

Starts for Linyanti— The "Go-Naked" Tribes— The Victoria 

Falls 181 

CHAPTER XI. 

Return Journey — Arrival and Death of Mrs. Livingstone — Dr. 

Livingstone Returns to England 195 

CHAPTER XII. 

Starts a Third Time for Africa — Re-ascends the Rovuma — His 
Reported Murder — Search Expedition — Letters from 
Livingstone . . 220 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The " New York Herald's " Expedition in Search of Livingstone 
— Stanley and Livingstone at Ujiji — Expedition to the 
Rusizi — Arrive at Unyanyembe — Stanley Bids the Great 
Traveller Farewell 246 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Livingstone's Account of his Explorations — His Theory of the 
Connection between the Lualaba and the Nile — Horrors of 
Slave Trade 288 

CHAPTER XV. 

Expeditions sent to Dr. Livingstone — His Death and Burial in 

Westminster Abbey ........ 314 



AND EXPLORATIONS 

OP 



DAYID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY YEARS — EDUCATION — ARRIVAL AT CAPE TOWN AS A 
MISSIONARY. 

AVID LIVINGSTONE was born at Blantyre, 
near Glasgow, in 1813. He was the son of 
humble but respectable parents, whose simple 
piety and worth were noticeable even in a 
community which, in those days, ranked above the average 
for all those manly and self-denying virtues which, a few 
generations ago, were so characteristic of the lower classes 
of Scotland. Humble and even trying circumstances did 
not make them discontented with their lot, nor tend to 
make them forget the stainless name which had descended 
to them from a line of predecessors whose worldly circum- 
stances were hardly better than their own. 

In the introduction to his "Missionary Travels and 
Researches in South Africa," published in 1857, Dr. Living 
stone gave a brief and modest sketch of his early years, 
together with some account of the humble, although notable 
family from which he could trace his descent. " One great- 
grandfather," he tells us, "fell at the battle of Oulloden, 
fighting for the old line of kings, and one grandfather was 





8 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



a small farmer in Ulva, where my father was born. It is 
one of that cluster of the Hebrides thus spoken of by Sir 
Walter Scott 

* And Ulva dark, and Colonsay, 
And all the group of islets gay 
That guard famed Staffa round.' 

" Our grandfather was intimately acquainted with all the 
traditionary legends which that great writer has since 
made use of in 'The Tales of a Grandfather,' and other 
works. As a boy I remember listening with delight, for 
his memory was stored with a never-ending stock of stories, 
many of which were wonderfully like those I have since 
heard while sitting by the African evening fires. Our 
grandmother, too, used to sing Gaelic songs, some of which, 
as she believed, had been composed by captive Highlanders 
languishing among the Turks s ,s 

The reverence of the true Highlander for his ancestors, 
and his knowledge of them and their doings for many 
generations, have been frequently the subject of mirth to 
the Lowlanders or Sassenachs, as they are termed by the 
Celts ; but in such instances as that of the family of which 
we are treating, these feelings are not only virtues, but 
become the incentives to bold and manly effort in the most 
trying circumstances. Livingstone tells us that his grand- 
father could rehearse traditions of the family for six 
generations before him. One of these was of a nature to 
make a strong impression on the imaginative and indepen- 
dent mind of the boy, even when almost borne down with 
toil too severe for his years. He says : " One of these poor 
hardy islanders was renowned in the district for great 
wisdom and prudence ; and it is related that, when he was 
on his death-bed, he called all his children around him, and 
said, * Now, in my lifetime, I have searched most carefully 
through all the traditions I could find of our family, and 1 
never could discover that there was a dishonest man among 



EARLY YEARS. 







our forefathers, If, therefore, any of you or any of your 
children should take to dishonest ways it will not be 
because it runs in our blood ; it does not belong to you. I 
leave this precept with you : Be honest / ' " 

With pardonable pride and some covert sarcasm, Living- 
stone points out that at the period in question, according to 
Macaulay, the Highlanders " were much like Cape Kaffres, 
and any one, it was said, could escape punishment for cattle 
stealing by presenting a share of the plunder to his chieftain." 
Macaulay's assertion was true of the clans and bands of 
broken men who dwelt near the Highland line ; but even in 
their case these cattle-lifting raids hardly deserved the 
designation of pure theft, as even up to the middle of the last 
century they looked upon the Lowlanders as an alien race, 
and consequently enemies whom it was lawful to despoil. 
The conduct of the needy and ambitious nobles who drove 
them from their native glens and mountains, where their 
fathers had lived and hunted for centuries, with a view to 
possessing themselves of their inheritance, too often furnished 
a sufficient excuse for the deeds of violence and plunder 
which figure so prominently in the annals of the country 
down even to the days of George II. 

Like most of the Highlanders, his ancestors were Roman 
Catholics, but when Protestantism got fairly established in 
Scotland, the apo3tacy of the chief was followed by that of 
the entire clan. Livingstone says, "They were made 
Protestants by the laird (the squire) coming round, with a 
man having a yellow staff, which would seem to have 
attracted more attention than his teaching, for the new 
religion went long afterwards, perhaps it does so still, by 
the name of * the religion of the staff.' " 

In the olden time, religion to them was only secondary 
to their devotion and attachment to their chief, and never 
seems to have taken any firm hold of their imaginations. 
The country was poor in money, and the priests they were 



LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



familiar with were needy and ignorant; and within the 
Highland line there were no splendid edifices or pomp of 
worship to rouse their enthusiasm, so that the abandonment 
of their old mode of worship entailed no sacrifice.* 

With the breaking-up of the clans and the introduction of 
industrial occupations, and the teaching and preaching of 
devoted adherents of the new religion, the minds of the 
Highlanders were moved, and for many generations, and 
even at the present day, the Presbyterian form of worship 
has no more zealous adherents than the people of the High- 
lands of Scotland. The man with the yellow staff was, in 
all likelihood, one of the commissioners sent out by the 
General Assembly to advocate the cause of the new religion 
among those who were either indifferent about it, or were 
too remote from Edinburgh to be affected by the deadly 
struggle for supremacy which was going on between the 
old creed and the new religion. 

Towards the end of the last century, finding the small 
farm in Ulva insufficient for the maintenance of his family, 
Livingstone's grandfather resnoved to Blantyre, where he, 
for a number of years, occupied a position of trust in the 
employment of Messrs. Monteith & Co., of Blantyre Cotton 
Works, his sons being employed as clerks. It formed part 
of the old man's duty to convey large sums of money to and 
from Glasgow, and his unflinching honesty in this and other 
ways won him the respect and esteem of his employers, who 

* In " Waverley," Sir Walter Scott very happily illustrates the non- 
religious character of the Highlanders about the middle of last century. 
"Waverley had just parted with Fergus Mclvor, and was approaching a 
Lowland village, "and as he now distinguished not indeed the ringing 
of bells, but the tinkling of something like a hammer against the side 
of an old mossy, green, inverted porridge pot that hung in an open 
booth, of the size and shape of a parrot's cage, erected to grace the east 
end of a building resembling an old barn, he asked Galium Beg if it 
were Sunday. 'Oouldna say just preceesely, Sunday seldom cam 
aboon the Pass o' Bally-Brough.'" 



EARLY YEARS. 



it 



settled a pension on him when too old to continue his 
services. 

Livingstone's uncles shared in the patriotic spirit which 
pervaded the country during the war with France, and 
entered the service of the king; but his father having 
recently got married settled down as a small grocer, the 
returns from which business were so meagre as to necessitate 
his children being sent to the factory as soon as they could 
earn anything to assist in the family support. David 
Livingstone was but ten years of age, in 1823, when he 
entered the mill as a " piecer," where he was employed from 
six o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock at night, with 
intervals for breakfast and dinner. In ninety-nine cases 
out of a hundred, this early introduction to a life of toil 
would have been the commencement of a lifetime of obscurity 
and privation. Let us see how David Livingstone bore and 
conquered the cruel circumstances of his boyhood, and made 
for himself a name which is known and respected throughout 
the civilized world, and is accepted by the savage inhabitants 
of Central Africa as conveying to their minds the ideal of 
all that is best in the character of " the white man." 

Between the delicate " piecer " boy of ten and the middle- 
aged man who returned to England after an absence of 
sixteen years, in December 1856, with a world-wide reputa- 
tion, there was a mighty hill of difficulty nobly surmounted, 
and we cannot attach too much importance to the mode in 
which he conquered those difficulties and hindrances, which, 
but that they are mastered every now and again in our sight 
by some bold and daring spirit, we are almost' inclined to 
think insurmountable. It is a true saying, that every man 
who has earned distinction must have been blessed with a 
parent or parents of no mean order, whatever their position 
in society. What his ancestors were like we gather from 
his own brief allusion to them ; and the few remarks he 
makes regarding his parents and their circumstances, sup- 



is LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



plemented by some information procured from one who 
knew them, enables us to give a picture of his home sur- 
roundings, which will assist us materially in estimating the 
courageous spirit which carried the delicate and overworked 
boy safely through all his early toils and trials. 

To the mere observer, Livingstone's father appeared to be 
somewhat stern and taciturn, and an overstrict disciplinarian 
where the members of his family were concerned ; but under 
a cold and reserved exterior he sheltered a warm heart, and 
his real kindliness, as well as his truth and uprightness, are 
cherished in the memories of his family and his intimates. 
He was too truthful and conscientious to become rich as a 
small grocer in a country village ; while his real goodness of 
heart induced him to trust people whose necessities were 
greater than their ability or desire to pay, to the further 
embarrassment of a household his limited business made 
severe enough. 

He brought up his children in connection with the Church 
of Scotland, from which he seceded a few years before his 
death, and joined an Independent congregation worshipping 
in Hamilton, some miles distant. Speaking of the Christian 
example he set before his family, his famous son says, " He 
deserved my lasting gratitude and homage for presenting 
me from infancy with a continuously consistent pious 
example, such as that, the ideal of which is so beautifully 
and truthfully portrayed in Burns' Cottar's Saturday 
Night.'" He was a strict disciplinarian, and looked with 
small favour on his son's passion for reading scientific books 
and works of travel; but his son had much of his own 
stubborn and independent temperament where he supposed 
himself to be in the right ; and sturdily preferred his own 
selection of books to " The Cloud of Witnesses," " Boston's 
Fourfold State," or " Wilberforce's Practical Christianity." 
His refusal to read the latter work procured him a caning, 
which was the last occasion his father applied the rod. 



EARLY YEARS, 



13 



As in the case of many a young man in like circumstances, 
his father's importunity and unfortunate selection of authors 
fostered a dislike for merely doctrinal reading, which con- 
tinued until years afterwards, when a perusal of 11 The 
Philosophy of Religion," and " The Philosophy of a Future 
State," by Dr. Thomas Dick, widened his understanding, 
and gratified him by confirming him in what he had all 
along believed, "that religion and science are not hostile, 
but friendly to each other." Both his parents had taken 
much pains to instil the principles of Christianity into his 
mind, but it was only after becoming acquainted with the 
writings of Dr. Dick and others that their efforts bore 
fruit. The depth of his religious convictions may be 
realised when we contemplate the sacrifices he afterwards 
made in his evangelistic labours, but his strong under- 
standing saved him from becoming either a sectary or a 
bigot. While there was no more earnest-minded or devoted 
servant of Christ than Dr. Livingstone, there was none so 
liberal and so large-hearted in his acceptance of all honest 
and God-fearing men who strove to do good whatever their 
creed might be. 

His father died in February 1856, at the time when his 
son was making his way from the interior of Africa to the 
coast, on his return to England, "expecting no greater 
pleasure in this country than sitting by our cottage fire and 
telling him my travels. I revere his memory." The 
applause of the best and highest in the land, in the social 
circle or in the crowded assembly, with hundreds hanging 
on his every word, was as nothing compared to the long 
talks he had looked forward to with the kindly though stern 
father he had not seen for so many years ; but it was not to 
be. He has small notions of the strength of filial affection 
in the heart of such a man who cannot sympathise with his 
sorrow and disappointment. 

His mother, a kindly and gentle woman, whose whole 



LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



thoughts were given up to the care of her children and the 
anxieties consequent upon narrow means, was the constant 
instructor of her children in religious matters. Her dis- 
tinguished son tells us that his earliest recollection of her 
recalls a picture so often seen among the Scottish poor — 
" that of the anxious housewife striving to make both ends 
meet." Her loving and kindly nature acted as a valuable 
counterpoise to the strict and austere rule of the father, and 
kept alive in the hearts of her children a love and respect 
for all things sacred, which an enforced, study of dry 
theological books might have endangered or destroyed. 

The little education which the " piecer " boy of ten had 
received had aroused within him the desire for more, and the 
genuineness of this desire was proved by the purchase of a 
copy of " Ruddiman's Rudiments of Latin " with a portion 
of his first week's earnings. For many years he pursued 
the study of Latin with enthusiastic ardour, receiving much 
assistance in this and other studies at an evening school, 
the teacher of which was partly supported by the intelligent 
members of the firm at Blantyre Works, for the benefit of 
the people in their employment. Livingstone's work hours 
were from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. ; school hours from eight to ten, 
and private reading and study occupied from ten to twelve ; 
and at the latter hour it was often necessary for his mother to 
take possession of his books and send the youthful student 
to bed. Eighteen hours out of the twenty-four were given 
up to toil and self-improvement, a remarkable instance 
truly of determined effort on the part of a mere boy to 
acquire knowledge which his hard lot would almost have 
seemed to have placed beyond his reach. 

Even when at work the book he was reading was fixed 
upon the spinning-jenny, so that he could catch sentence 
after sentence as he passed in his work. At sixteen years 
of age he tells us that he knew Horace and Virgil better 
than he did in 1857. Notwithstanding the limited leisure 



EARLY YEARS. 



at his disposal, he made himself thoroughly acquainted with 
the scenery, botany, and geology of his district. In these 
excursions he was frequently accompanied by his elder and 
younger brothers, John and Charles; but he was much 
alone, and while his temper was far from being moody or 
morose, he was fond of rambling about, his only companion 
being a book of travels or a scientific treatise. His thirst 
for knowledge was stronger than his desire for boyish 
pastimes. 

At nineteen years of age Livingstone was promoted to the 
laborious duties of a cotton spinner, and while the heavy toil 
pressed hard upon the young and growing lad, he was 
cheered by the reflection that the high wages he now earned 
would enable him, from his summer's labour, to support 
himself in Glasgow during the winter months while attend- 
ing medical and other classes at the University ; to attend 
which he walked to and from his father's house daily, a 
distance of nine miles. He never received a particle of aid 
from any one, nor did the resolute youth seek or expect 
such, well knowing that his difficulties and trials were no 
greater than those of dozens of his fellows who sat on the 
same benches with him in the class-rooms. The religious 
awakening which we have already alluded to, which 
occurred when he was about sixteen years of age, inspired 
him with a fervent ambition to be a pioneer of Christianity 
in China, and his practical instincts taught him that 
a knowledge of medicine would be of great service in 
securing him the confidence of the people he was so desirous 
of benefiting, besides ensuring his appointment as a medical 
missionary in connection with a society of that name 
recently formed in his native land. 

At the conclusion of his medical curriculum he had to 
present a thesis to the examining body of the University, 
on which his claim to be admitted a member of the faculty 
of physicians and surgeons would be judged. The subject 



16 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



was one which in ordinary practice required the use of the 
stethoscope for its diagnosis, and it was characteristic of the 
independence and originality of the man, that an awkward 
difference arose between him and the examiners as to 
whether the instrument could do what was claimed for it. 
This unfortunate boldness procured him a more than 
ordinarily severe examination, through which he passed 
triumphantly. Alluding to this in after years, he drily 
remarked that "the wiser plan would have been to have 
had no opinions of my own." Looking back over the years 
of toil and hardship which had led up to this important 
stage in his career, and looking forward to the possibilities 
of the future, he might well say that " it was with unfeigned 
delight I became a member of a profession which is pre- 
eminently devoted to practical benevolence, and which with 
unwearied energy pursues from age to age its endeavours to 
lessen human woe." 

Writing in 1857, he tells us that on reviewing his life of 
toil before his missionary career began, he could feel 
thankful that it was of such a nature as to prove a hardy 
training for the great enterprises he was destined afterwards 
to engage in; and he always spoke with warm and 
affectionate respect of the sterling character of the bulk of 
the humble villagers among whom he spent his early years. 

The outbreak of the opium war with China compelled 
him reluctantly to abandon his cherished intention of pro- 
ceeding to that country, but he was happily led to turn his 
thoughts to South Africa, where the successful labours of 
Mr. (now Dr.) Robert Moffat were attracting the attention 
of the Christian public in this country. In September 
1838, he was summoned to London to undergo an examina* 
tion by the directors of " The London Missionary Society," 
after which he was sent on probation to a missionary train- 
ing establishment conducted by the Rev, Mr. Cecil, at 
Chipping Ongar, in Essex. There he remained until th& 



EARLY YEARS. 



r; 



early part of 1840, applying himself with his wonted 
diligence to his studies, and testifying his disregard for 
hard labour by taking more than his full share of the 
work of the establishment: such as grinding the corn to 
make the household bread, chopping wood, gardening opera- 
tions, etc., etc. ; part of the training at Chipping Ongar 
being a wise endeavour to make the future missionaries able 
to shift for themselves in the uncivilised regions in which 
they might be called upon to settle. 

At Chipping Ongar he indulged his habit of making long 
excursions in the country round ; and on one occasion he 
walked to and from London, a distance of fifty miles, in one 
day, arriving late at night completely exhausted, as he had 
hardly partaken of any food during the entire journey. 
From his earliest years, up to his attaining manhood, his 
training, both mental and physical, had been of the best 
possible kind to fit him for the great career which lay before 
him, which may be said to have had its commencement 
w hen he landed at Cape Town in 1840. 




2 



CHAPTER II 



SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE — THE BUSHMEN, THE HOTTEN- 
TOTS, THE KAFFRES, AND THE BECHUANA TRIBES, AND 
THEIR HABITS, ETC. 

HE tract of country now known to us as Cape 
Colony was originally occupied by the Dutch 
about the middle of the 17th century. A 
large proportion of the original settlers were of 
German origin, but a considerable number were of French, 
many French families having settled there between the 
years 1680 and 1690, driven thither by the persecution to 
which Protestants were at that time subjected in France. 
The French and German settlers enslaved the native Hot- 
tentots, Kaffres, and Bushmen, and compelled them to labour 
for them on their farms ; and down to a very recent period 
this enforced servitude of the native tribes was the occasion 
of constant warfare and murder. In 1796 the Oape settle- 
ment was taken by the English, but on peace being concluded 
between the two nations, it was restored to the Dutch in 
1803. War breaking out shortly after, the Colony was again 
taken possession of by England, and has continued to be a 
dependency of this country ever since. From that time 
many people from England have settled in the country, both 
in the towns and throughout the country districts. Cape 
Colony, from east to west, measures nearly six hundred 
miles, and from north to south four hundred and fifty miles. 
The Colony of Natal is one hundred and seventy-five miles 
in length by about a hundred and twenty in breadth. The 
population, of Cape Colony, including British Kaffraria and 




SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE. 



*9 



Natal, is about a million, more than one half of whom aie 
natives. 

The abolition of slavery in the British dependencies freed 
the Hottentots, the Kaffres, and the Bushmen ; but at the 
time Dr. Livingstone commenced his career in Africa the 
Dutch Boers still compelled the labour of those tribes in the 
neighbourhood of their settlements who were too weak to 
resist them. The usual method was to manufacture a cause 
of quarrel, which would give a colourable pretext for 
attacking a native settlement, when they would carry off a 
number of the young of both sexes, who became slaves in 
everything save the name. We believe that the exposure 
of this traffic by Dr. Livingstone and his celebrated father- 
in-law, Dr. Moffat, has resulted in a complete stoppage of 
this iniquitous traffic ; but it was not effected until many 
missionaries were driven from their settlements by the 
Boers, who very naturally objected to their teaching the 
natives that all men were equal in the sight of God. As we 
shall see further on, Dr. Livingstone suffered at their hands ; 
but as he, in addition to being a missionary, was also a great 
explorer and discoverer of hitherto untrodden regions in the 
far interior, his denunciations had an effect in high quarters 
which those of a mere preacher of the Gospel to the heathen 
would not have had, and the local Government put a stop to 
the detestable practice. As in every other quarter of Africa 
where it exists, slavery was at the root of all the wars and 
bloodshed which made it so difficult and dangerous for 
white men, whatever their object, to penetrate into the 
interior. 

Previous to Dr. Livingstone's arrival in Africa, Dr. 
Moffat and a devoted band of labourers had been working 
zealously and successfully among the Hottentot, Bushmen, 
and Bechuana tribes; and the former had made frequent 
journeys to the north, and had reached points further to the 
northward than any of his predecessors and contemporaries 



LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.B. 



After Livingstone, he is the most notable figure in African 
Missionary enterprise, and has spent upwards of fifty years 
of his life in evangelistic labours in South Africa, displaying 
a courage and a devotedness truly apostolic. When in his 
prime he was a man of commanding exterior. Upwards of 
six feet in height, possessed of physical power and endurance 
above the ordinary, and having a singular faculty of adapting 
himself to circumstances whatever their nature, he gained a 
great ascendancy over the chiefs of the interior and their 
followers. The noble old man, although over eighty years 
of age, is still alive, and was the most notable figure among 
those who stood by the grave of his great son-in-law in 
Westminster Abbey. 

The mode of travelling in and around the Kalahari Desert 
and the districts to the south is on horseback, or in waggons 
drawn by oxen. These waggons are heavy lumbering wooden 
structures, on broad wheels, to enable them to pass easily 
over the stretches of loose sandy soil which are of frequent 
occurrence at a distance from the few rivers and streams 
which intersect the country. These waggons are drawn by 
dxen — a team, or span, consisting of from four to twelve 
oxen, according to the weight of the baggage carried. To 
the north of the Kuruman River, the travellers must carry 
their food, water, and bedding, and encamp for the night in 
the open air, unless when they can lodge with a friendly 
tribe. In the most favourable seasons the country to the 
north of Cape Colony is very scantily supplied with water, 
and in a period of drought the suffering from want of 
water on the part of the natives is very great. As all the 
animals on which they depend for food migrate during the 
continuance of a drought, the suffering of the people is 
greatly intensified, and many tribes move their quarters in 
search of a land more fortunately situated. 

Many Hottentots, Bushmen, and Kaffires reside through- 
out the colony. Several tribes of pure Hottentots are found 



SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE. 



in a savage state to the north-west of the Colony. The 
Bechuana tribes and the Bushmen occupy the country to 
the north, and in the east the Kaffre tribes hold sway. 

The Bushmen have never shewn any aptitude for agri- 
culture. They have an instinctive passion for freedom 
which nothing can subdue, and in order to preserve their 
independence they have scattered themselves over the 
interior, and are generally found in regions where the 
impossibility of carrying on agricultural operations and the 
scarcity of water render it impossible that the Bechuanas or 
Hottentots can interfere with them. They are smaller than 
any of the other purely African races, and appear to be 
identical with the Pygmies spoken of in the classics, and 
recently found by Du Ohaillu in the Ashango country to 
the west of the tropics, and by Dr. Schweinfurth in Central 
Africa. In their habits they approach the Gipsies of modem 
Europe, and seldom settle in a district for any length of 
time. Their huts are of the most primitive description, so 
that they can move their quarters at a moment's notice. 
Many of them are kept in a species of slavery by other 
native tribes, but they embrace the earliest opportunity of 
flying to the wilderness. 

Their arms consist of the bow and arrow, a spear, and a 
kind of club with a round knob at the end called a kerri. 
Their arrows are tipped with a mixture of vegetable and 
serpent poisons, and a wound from a poisoned arrow is 
usually of so deadly a character that the other tribes of 
South Africa look upon an encounter with the Bushmen 
with dread. Ihey hunt the wild animals of the country, 
and either shoot them with poisoned arrows or catch them 
in pit-falls. With their spears, which they use with great 
dexterity, they also kill the fish in the rivers. 

Besides killing fish with the spear, they have other 
methods of ensnaring them. They make baskets of the 
twigs of trees and rushes, not unlike the eel baskets used in 



LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



our home rivers, and use them in the same manner. If they 
expect a flood they make upon the strand, while the water 
is low, a large hole, and surround it with a wall of stone 
with an opening up stream. After the flood has subsided 
they find a number of fish in the excavation which have 
been unable to pass out. They watch the ostriches from the 
heights, and finding out where their eggs are, secure them? 
and having eaten the contents, preserve the shells to hold 
water, which they bury in the earth to preserve it against 
a season of scarcity. In common with many other African 
tribes they shew great cunning in hunting the ostrich itself, 
and get near enough to wound them with a poisoned arrow 
by adopting the following stratagem thus described by Dr. 
Moffat :— 

" A kind of flat double cushion is stuffed with straw, avid 
formed something like a saddle. All except the under part 
of this is covered over with feathers, attached to small pegs, 
and made so as to resemble the bird. The neck and head of 
an ostrich are stuffed, and a small rod introduced. The 
Bushman intending to attack game whitens his legs with 
any substance he can procure. He places the feathered 
saddle on his shoulders, takes the bottom part of the neck 
in his right hand, and his bow and poisoned arrows in his 
left. Such as the writer has seen were the most perfect 
mimics of the ostrich, and at a few hundred yards distance it 
is not possible for the human eye to detect the fraud. This 
human bird appears to peck away at the verdure, turning 
the head as if keeping a sharp look-out, shakes his feathers, 
now walks and then trots, till he gets within bow shot ; and 
when the flock runs from receiving the arrow, he runs too. 
The male ostriches will, on some occasions, give chase to the 
stranger bird, when he tries to elude them in a way to pre- 
vent them catching his scent ; for when once they do, the 
spell is broken. Should one happen to get too near in his 
pursuit, he has only to run to windward, or throw off his 



SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE. 



23 



saddle, to avoid a stroke from a wing, which would lay him 
prostrate." The same stratagem which enables them to 
approach the ostrich enables them to get within reach of a 
herd of antelopes, or any other animals whose flesh they 
eat. 

They collect locusts, when a swarm of these insects over- 
run the country, by digging a trench, into which they 
collect in heaps. These they eat, after preparing them in a 
hasty manner. They also gather and eat large quantities of 
a species of white ant, which burrows in the ground, and is 
found in large quantities. Several bulbous plants supply 
them with food, and as they contain a large amount of juice, 
make up for the scarcity of water in desert places, as we 
shall see when we accompany Dr. Livingstone to the Kala- 
hari Desert ; but these and all other kinds of food are only 
used by the Bushmen and other African tribes when they 
cannot get flesh meat. Almost all South African animals, 
both herbivorous and carnivorous, and birds eat locusts. 
Speaking of the Bushmen, Dr. Moffat says : — 
" As a whole they are not swarthy or black, but rather of 
a sallow colour, and in some cases so light that a tinge of 
red in the cheek is perceptible. They are generally smaller 
in stature than their neighbours of the interior ; their visage 
and form is very distinct, and in general the top of the head 
broad and flat ; their faces tapering to the chin, with high 
cheek bones, flat noses, and large lips. Since the writer 
has had opportunities of seeing men, women, and children 
from China, he feels strongly inclined to think with Barrow, 
that they approach nearest in colour and in the construction 
of their features to that people than to any other nation." 
Among the Bechuanas the Bushmen are kept in a kind of 
vassalage, and are called Balala. "These Balalas," Dr. 
Moffat says, " were once inhabitants of the towns, and have 
been permitted or appointed to live in country places for 
the purpose of procuring skins of wild animals, wild honey, 



24 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



and roots, for their respective chiefs. The number of these 
country residents was increased by the innate love of liberty 
and the scarcity of food in towns, or the boundaries to which 
they were confined by water and pasture. These again 
formed themselves into small communities, though of the 
most temporary character, their calling requiring migration, 
having no cattle of any description. Accustomed from 
infancy to the sweets of comparative liberty, which they 
vastly preferred to a kind of vassalage in the towns or 
kraals, they would make any sacrifice to please their often 
distant superiors rather than be confined to the irksomeness 
of a town life. Such is their aversion, that I have known 
chiefs take armed men, and travel a hundred miles into 
desert places, in order to bring back Balala, whom they 
wished to assist them in watching and harvesting the 
gardens of their wives. . . . They live a hungry life, being 
dependent on the chase, wild roots, berries, locusts, and 
indeed anything eatable that comes within their reach ; and 
when they have a more than usual supply they will bury it 
in the earth from their superiors, who are in the habit of 
taking what they please." . . . Their servile state, their 
scanty clothing, their exposure to the inclemency of the 
weather, and their extreme poverty, have, as may be easily 
conceived, a deteriorating influence on their character and 
condition. They are generally less in stature, and though 
not deficient in intellect, the life they lead gives a melan- 
choly cast to their features, and from constant intercourse 
with beasts of prey and serpents in the path, as well as 
exposure to harsh treatment, they appear shy, and have a 
wild and frequently suspicious look. Nor can this be 
wondered at, when it is remembered that they associate 
with savage beasts — from the lion that roams abroad by 
night and day to the deadly serpent which infests their 
path, keeping them always on the alert during their per- 
ambulations. 



SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE, 



25 



When they build huts, they are, as we have already said, 
of the most primitive description ; but frequently they have 
no claim to such an appellation. Lichtenstein, a very 
careful observer, gives a very graphic account of their 
temporary abodes ; although it is but right to say that the 
Bushmen, since the time of his writing, have benefited in 
this and many other respects from their more frequent 
intercourse with the Europeans and more cultivated tribes. 
He says : — 

" He (the Bushman) is fond of taking up his abode for 
the night in caverns among the mountains, or clefts in the 
rocks ; in the plain he makes himself a hole in the ground, 
or gets into the midst of a bush, when, bending the boughs 
around him, they are made to serve as a shelter against the 
weather, against an enemy, or against wild beasts. ... It 
is this custom which has given rise to the name by which 
these savages are known. The holes in the ground above 
mentioned, which sometimes serve these people as beds, are 
only a few inches deep, of a longish round form, and even 
when they have to serve for a whole family, not more than 
five or six feet wide. It is' incredible how they manage to 
pack together in so small a space perhaps two grown persons 
and several children ; each is wrapped in a single sheep-skin, 
in which they contrive to roll themselves up in such a 
manner, round like a ball, that air is all but entirely kept 
from them. In very cold nights they heap up twigs and 
earth on the windward side of the hole ; but against rain 
they have no other shelter than the sheep-skin. In the hot 
season of the year they are fond of lying in the beds of the 
rivers, under the shade of the mimosas trees, the branches of 
which they draw down to screen themselves from the sun 
and wind." 

Dr. Schweinfurth, in his work, "The Heart of Africa," 
points out the remarkable similarity between the Akka, a 
tribe of dwarfs in Central Africa, who are found about four 



26 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



hundred miles to the north of the furthest point to which 
Livingstone followed the Lualaba. He says : — 

" Scarcely a doubt can exist but that all these people, like 
fche Bushmen of South Africa, may be considered as the 
scattered remains of an aboriginal population now becoming 
extinct ; and their isolated and sporadic existence bear out 
the hypothesis. For centuries after centuries Africa has 
been experiencing the effects of many emigrations ; for 
thousands of years one nation has been driving out another, 
and, as the result of repeated subjugations and interminglings 
of race with race, such manifold changes have been intro- 
duced into the conditions of existence, that the succession of 
new phases, like the development in the world of plants, 
appears almost, as it were, to open a glimpse into the 
infinite. 

" Incidentally I have just referred to the Bushmen, those 
notorious natives of the South African forests, who owe 
their name to the likeness which the Dutch colonists con- 
ceived they bore to the ape as the prototype of the human 
race. I may further remark that their resemblance to the 
equatorial Pygmies is in many points very striking. Gustav 
Fritsch, the author of a standard work upon the natives of 
South Africa, first drew my attention to the marked simi- 
larity between my portraits of the Akka and the general 
type of the Bushmen, and so satisfied did I become in my 
own mind that I feel quite justified (in my observations upon 
the Akka) in endeavouring to prove that all the tribes of 
Africa, whose proper characteristic is an abnormally low 
stature, belong to one and the self-same race." In another 
place he says : " The only traveller, I believe, before myself 
that has come into contact with any section of this race is 
Du Ohaillu, who, in the territory of Ashango, discovered a 
wandering tribe of hunters called Obongo, and took the 
measurements of a number of them. He describes these 
Obongo as being 'not ill shaped,' and as having skins of 



SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE. 



2/ 



a pale yellow brown, somewhat lighter than their neigh- 
bours. " 

From the days of Herodotus downwards traditions of a 
dwarfish race of human beings in Central Africa have 
existed, and the explorations of Dr. Livingstone and others 
are only now teaching us how thoroughly Africa was known 
to the ancient Greeks. We are in short only re-discovering 
countries and peoples which had been previously discovered, 
and had sunk into oblivion with the great people who had 
wrested their knowledge of them from the inhospitable 
regions of equatorial Africa, where pestilence and savage 
men and animals have again preserved them from the know- 
ledge of civilised nations for many centuries. 

In speaking of the Hottentots, we usually associate with 
the name the natives who are found within the boundaries 
of Cape Colony, and are employed by the Europeans in 
agricultural and other pursuits. These have lost many of 
the characteristics of savage life, and have picked up not a 
few civilised accomplishments, which can hardly be said to 
be an improvement on the native habits they have abandoned. 
For several generations they were actually slaves, and even 
up to a recent period they were slaves in all but the name. 
Their language, when they have forgotten or neglected the 
language of their fathers, is a broken English or Dutch, 
hardly so intelligible to the stranger as the broken English 
of the American nigger. They are a tall, strong, and hardy 
race, and make good soldiers, and have done signal service 
in assisting our troops in putting down the numberless 
risings of the bold and warlike Kaffres. 

The discipline and confinement of a military life at the 
dep6ts prove very irksome to these sons of the wilderness, 
but during a campaign they have, with very few exceptions, 
proved themselves excellent soldiers. The complexion of 
the Hottentot is not so dark as that of the native Africans 
of the West and many of the tribes of Southern and Central 



2B LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Africa, nor have they the same round full faces. The nose 
is very much depressed, so that the mouth and lips project 
in many cases beyond it ; the cheek bones are high, and the 
comparatively full brow gives token of considerable intelli- 
gence. The hair is hard and dark, and when not worn long, 
resembles tufts of black wooL The eyes are small and 
usually black, the part surrounding the ball being a yellowish 
white. The huts or dwelling-houses of the Hottentots 
within the Colony are greatly superior to those in use by 
the Hottentots and other native tribes beyond the Colony, 
and are built in imitation of the houses of Europeans, 
although they are of much less solid construction. Their 
innate love of freedom leads them to prefer living in the 
country, although of late years many of them have settled 
in the towns, where they are employed in all kinds of 
manual labour. They are orderly members of the com- 
munity, unless when tlsey indulge in ardent spirits, when 
they become noisy and unruly. A very large number of 
them have become Christians, and give their children an 
elementary education. Much of this is due to the mission- 
aries specially sent out to them, and to the resident clergy- 
men who minister to the European population. In their 
gardens they cultivate vegetables of various kinds. The 
women attend to the gardens and save a little money by 
working at times for the farmers, and by weaving mats 
made from a kind of sedge found in the rivers and streams. 
Their clothing is, for the most part, of English manufacture, 
and frequently displays those vagaries in colour which 
delight the eye of the savage all over the world. 

The Kaffres are allied to the Beclmana tribes. They are 
a bold and warlike race, and having been dispossessed of 
portions of their land by the colonists, they for many years 
kept up a state of war which the whole force of the Govern- 
ment could hardly bring to a termination. When hard 
pressed they retreated to their mountain fastnesses, to issue 



SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE. 



forth on the next favourable opportunity, carrying ruin and 
desolation to many a homestead and township. They are 
fuller in the face and darker in colour than the Hottentots ; 
the beard larger, and they are much stronger and more finely 
formed. Like the Bechuanas, to whom they are allied, they 
practice circumcision, but appear to be unable to account 
for the origin of this practice. Their wealth consists chiefly 
in cattle. Their hut3 are circular in shape, and are formed 
of brushwood and grass. The land is the property of the 
whole tribe, and they shift from place to place as inclination 
or necessity may suggest. The tribe is split up into sub- 
divisions, each under a separate chief, and they are often in 
a state of warfare with one another. Their principal grain 
is the Indian millet. Their arms are principally the lance, 
which they use with great dexterity, and a small battle-axe. 
A kind of club called the kerri is used, principally to turn 
aside the lance of an enemy, for which purpose they also 
use a shield made of hardened ox-hide. The kerri is used 
as a weapon of offence when they come to close quarters. 
Writing nearly seventy years ago, when the Kaffres were a 
terror to the European settlers in Cape Colony, Lichtenstein 
says: "What makes the neighbourhood of these savages 
extremely irksome is, that in peace they expect a sort of 
tribute what in war they seize by force. They often come 
in large bodies, and will stay several days, and even weeks, 
scarcely thinking themselves obliged, even although they 
are entertained all the time without cost ; and this the in- 
habitants do, to obviate, if possible, any cause of quarrel 
with them. Many times, in making peace, endeavours have 
been made to establish a fixed boundary, which neither side 
shall pass without express permission from the chiefs of the 
country, but to this they would never consent, asserting that 
there was no use in being at peace if people could not make 
visits to their friends to inquire after their welfare. Their 
importunity, their number, and the tear of quarrelling with 



3o LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



them, since they are very ready to catch at any pretence for 
a quarrel, commonly secure them good entertainment." 

Lichtenstein was visited by a party of Kaffres, who 
treated him to " a pantomimic representation of their mode 
of fighting, ranging themselves in two rows, and shewing 
me, by the most rapid and powerful movements of the body, 
how they throw the weapon (the lance) at the enemy. 
They also imitated their manner of avoiding the weapons of 
their opponent, which consisted in changing their places at 
every moment, springing hither and thittier with loud cries, 
throwing themselves at one instant on the ground, and then 
rising with astonishing velocity to take their aim anew. 
The activity and readiness of their motions, the variety and 
rapid changes of attitude in these fine, athletic, naked 
warriors, made this sight as pleasing as it was interesting, 
on account of its novelty. . . . Soon it began to rain hard, 
so we invited our visitors into the house, where they enter- 
tained themselves till late in the evening with a dance 
after their fashion; this was as stiff and disagreeable as 
their activity and dexterity in the use of their arms had 
been otherwisa The men first came forward in a row, 
with folded arms, stamping with a number of strange dis- 
agreeable motions of the head, shoulders, and body, while 
the women, with the most hideous grimaces, moved slowly 
round the men, one after the other. Then they sing or 
rather howl a strange melody, which cannot be pleasing 
throughout to a European's ear, and which could not be 
performed upon any of our instruments, because their 
intervals stand in a very different relation one to another 
than ours. Yet they imitate these intervals and the melody 
of these songs upon their imperfect instruments very 
true. One of the women employed herself in making 
baskets of rushes, such as are mentioned by Sparman, 
thick enough to hold milk. The work is uncommonly 
neat, and does great honour to the inventor ; but the mode 



SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE. 



31 



in which it is done could not be described without great 
prolixity." 

The agriculture of the Kaffres and the Bechuana and 
other tribes of South Africa was originally of a most primi- 
tive description. To the north, where game was abundant, 
it was very much neglected. Their corn is known as the 
Indian millet or Guinea corn, and is called Kaffre corn by 
the colonists. The grain grows in a large bunch at the top 
of the stalk, differing from Indian corn, the grain of which 
forms a large cylindrical ear. Among the Bechuanas it is 
known as mabbeli. The stalk, when the plant is not over 
ripe, is very juicy and refreshing, and is frequently chewed 
by the natives, especially when water is scarce. 

The grain is mostly eaten after boiling in water ; and it 
is sometimes pounded into a thick pulp with milk after 
boiling, and left until it becomes sour and solidifies, when 
it is called Bukoli or bread. 

A small species of kidney bean is cultivated in consider- 
able quantities. The stalk grows to a height of from two 
to three feet, and the seed is smaller than our garden bean. 
Water melons and bulbous plants of various kinds, as we 
shall see further on, form no inconsiderable portion of the 
diet of the natives to the south of the river Zouga, and in 
periods of drought, when the animals leave the country in 
search of water, these, together with locusts, frogs, snakes, 
and almost any kind of animal they can surprise and kill, 
form their only food. Several of the bulbous plants, a kind 
of pumpkin and the calabash gourd, are cultivated in their 
gardens. Various wild berry-producing plants, roots, and 
fruit trees, form no unimportant addition to their food 
when in season. 

The natives are all hunters, and they sometimes organise 
a battue on a large scale. Several hundred natives, armed 
with spears and as many muskets as they can muster, 
silently surround a herd of antelopes, zebras, and quaggas. 



32 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Advancing slowly and silently they drive the game inwards, 
the human cordon gradually thickening as they close in, 
until the startled herd find themselves surrounded by a 
living wall of yelling savages. In their frantic efforts to 
break through they are speared in great numbers. After a 
gorge on the half-cooked flesh, they cut the flesh into strips 
and hang it on the branches of trees and shrubs to dry it 
for preservation. 

They frequently form a couple of long fences of shrubs, 
commencing wide apart and converging at a point, where 
pit-falls have been dug, and carefully covered over with 
grass and shrubs ; in these pit-falls they fix sharp pointed 
stakes, on which the animals impale themselves. Some- 
times animals enter this enclosure voluntarily, and at other 
times they are driven into it, when in pressing to get out at 
the narrow end they fall into the pits in great numbers, 
and are speedily despatched with lances. 

The breeding of cattle and the cultivation of the soil have 
made rapid strides of late years among the Kaffres and 
Bechuanas. Following the example set by the missionaries 
and settlers, large tracts of ground are made fruitful by a 
simple system of irrigation in the neighbourhood of streams 
and springs of water. In this way a plentiful crop of grain, 
potatoes, and other vegetables, and various kinds of fruit 
are grown in considerable quantities ; but an unusually dry 
season, which turns the springs and streams into hollows of 
burning sand, puts an end for the time to all resources, 
natural and artificial, and a season of great suffering ensues, 
in which many of their cattle die or are slain for want of 
food, and many of the natives, especially the young and old 
of both sexes, die for want of the necessaries of life. In 
time they will no doubt learn to provide for these seasons 
of scarcity, but their careless and improvident habits are 
difficult to eradicate. 

In the foregoing sketch of the three leading races of 



SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS PEOPLE, 



33 



mankind native to South Africa, we have been anxious to 
present them as they were when Dr. Livingstone began his 
labours amongst them. The people he visited and lived 
amongst for the first ten years of his life in Africa were all, 
with the "exception of the Bushmen and Hottentots, more 
or less of the same kindred as the Kaffres, and speaking a 
language of the same character, if not always identical. 
The manners and customs of tribes distinct from these will 
fall to be treated of as we proceed in our narrative. Since 
1840 the relations of the white population to the natives who 
live amongst them, and who occupy the country bordering 
on the territory, have greatly changed for the better. 
Slowly but surely civilisation is improving the black man, 
and increasing the number of his resources, and consequently 
the comforts of his life. Wise legislation, missionary 
enterprise, and the frequent visits paid to the country by 
European sportsmen, have all borne their share in this 
elevating process. But of all the agencies which have beer, 
at work for the improvement of the savage people of Africa, 
none have had so powerful and so immediate an effect for 
good as the single-handed labours of David Livingstone. 




3 



CHAPTER III. 



DR. LIVINGSTONS ARRIVES AT KURUMAN MISSIONARY EXPE- 
RIENCES — LETTERS AND REPORTS — ADVENTURE WITH A 
LION — MARRIAGE — THE BAKWAINS ATTACKED SY THE 
BOERS. 




REGULARLY ordained worker in the Christian 
field, and a well instructed doctor and surgeon, 
with an enthusiastic love for the work he was 
engaged in, after a brief stay at the Cape Dr. 



Livingstone proceeded, in accordance with the instructions 
he had received from the missionary society, to Kuruman, 
with the view of establishing a mission station still further 
to the north where ground had not then been broken. 

The calling of a missionary in South Africa in these days 
was one that offered no reward save that which follows the 
doing good to one's fellow-creatures. Under the best of 
circumstances life among the savages was, and is, of the most 
comfortless description. For a large proportion of the time 
so spent the missionary must suffer from hunger and from 
thirst, from the inclemency of the weather, and the total 
want of congenial society. Dangers to life and limb from 
savage beasts and equally savage men are all but constant ; 
and to crown all, the good work, the reward of so much 
suffering and self-denial, proceeds but slowly, and not 
unfrequently days, weeks, and months pass without a sign 
that the seed sown with such anxiety has taken root in the 
heart of a single human being. The annals of missionary 
effort among the savage tribes of South Africa, up to the 
date of entering upon his career, were filled with a super- 
abundance of unpromising experiences, terminating in many 



ARRIVAL AT KURUMAN. 



3S 



instances in disappointment and in an early death. True, 
during the previous twenty years Robert Moffat and several 
others had begun to reap, in some small degree, the fruits of 
the incessant toil and effort of years ; but there was little 
which they had to tell which could be tempting to the 
young enthusiast who thought only of merely worldly 
distinction. 

Tools, household utensils, and even the meat out of the pot 
were stolen, and the cattle driven away, and possibly one of 
them killed and eaten. Slowly but surely the devoted 
missionaries made their way to the hearts and better 
natures of the natives until their trials and difficulties 
would become less and les3, and then finally disappear ; but 
the above is no over-drawn picture of missionary experi- 
ence for the first few months of residence with a native 
tribe. Ail this and much more would be well known to 
David Livingstone long before he set foot in Africa or 
penetrated into the interior from Kuruman. 

At Kuruman and neighbourhood he found Moffat and his 
coadjutors hard at work, and remained with them a few 
months familiarising himself with their mode of operations, 
visiting and making himself acquainted with the Bechuana 
people, their manners and customs, language and country, 
with a view to settling amongst them, the chief of one of 
the Bechuana tribes being favourable to his projects. 

In his second preparatory excursion into the Bechuana 
country he settled for six months at a place called Lepelole, 
and with characteristic thoroughness of purpose completely 
isolated himself from European society in order to obtain 
an accurate knowledge of the language. Deeming that this 
was to be the scene and centre of his future labours, he 
commenced his preparations for a settlement among the 
Bakwains, as that section of the Bechuana people who 
inhabited the district round Lepelole was named. When 
these arrangements were almost completed, he made a 



36 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



journey, principally on foot, to the north, and penetrated 
within ten days' journey of the lower part of the river 
Zouga ; and if discovery had been his object, he might even 
then have discovered Lake Ngami. At this time the great 
traveller's slim appearance gave little token of the hardy 
physique which was to enable him afterwards to undergo 
months and years of toilsome journeyings in regions 
never before visited by civilised man \ but this trial trip 
proved the pluck and stamina which were to stand him in so 
good stead in many undertakings of much greater magni- 
tude, and gave him a gratifying notion of his power of 
overcoming difficulties of a novel and trying character. 

Livingstone's letters and reports, which he sent home to 
the London Missionary Society at this and future times 
giving particulars of his labours and adventures, are full of 
never-ending interest, and are in themselves the best account 
of his work that can be written. At a very early stage of 
his career Livingstone had discovered that he could serve 
the people of Africa best by opening up the country, and 
securing the interest of people of all ranks and classes in 
their condition and circumstances. As a mere missionary 
accredited to a certain specified district, his labours, how- 
ever successful, could only be known to a limited number 
of people. As a missionary explorer, his discoveries and 
adventures would attract the attention of the entire intel- 
ligent community, not only in his own country, but through- 
out the civilised world, and result in a service rendered to 
the savage people of Africa which the united labours of half 
a hundred missionaries could not accomplish. In a letter 
to his brother John, written in December 1873 from the 
neighbourhood of Lake Bangweolo, he says : — 

" If the good Lord above gives me strength and influence 
to complete the task, I shall not grudge my hunger and 
toil ; above all, if He permits me to put a stop to the 
enormous evils of this inland slave trade, I shall bless His 



LETTERS AND REPORTS. 



57 



name with all my heart. The Nile sources are valuable to 
me only as a means of enabling me to open my month 
among men. It is this power I hope to apply to remedy an 
enormous evil, and join my little helping hand in the great 
revolution that, in His all-embracing providence, He has 
been carrying on for ages." 

Fortunately for the public, and also for a good many of 
the readers of the London Society's Missionary reports, 
Livingstone's accounts of his discoveries in Central Africa 
were handed over by the secretary to the Geographical 
Society, and they were published in its journals. The 
notion that Livingstone had proved unfaithful to his calling 
as a missionary when he started upon his career as an 
explorer is held by many otherwise good" and sensible people 
even now. The extract from the letter to his brother 
which we have given above puts the matter in its proper 
light. He knew that the great ones of the earth would 
become interested in new peoples living in novel conditions 
in hitherto unexplored territory, who could not be got to 
feel any great interest in savage tribes living on the out- 
skirts of civilisation. 

The following is Livingstone's report to the London 
Missionary Society, published in 1843, after his second 
tour among the tribes to the north of Kuruman : — 

" The population is sunk in the very lowest state both of 
mental and moral degradation : it would be difficult, if not 
impossible, for Christians at home to realise anything like 
an accurate notion of the grossness of that darkness which 
shrouds their minds. I could not ascertain that they had 
the least idea of a future state ; and though they have some 
notions which seem to be connected with a belief in its 
existence, I have not met one who could put the necessary 
links together in the chain of reasoning so as to become 
possessed of the definite idea. In some countries the light 
which the Gospel once shed hag gone out, and darkness has 



38 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.&. 



succeeded. But though eighteen centuries have elapsed 
since life and immortality were brought to light, there is no 
certainty that these dark regions were ever before visited 
for the purpose of making known the light and liberty and 
peace of the glorious Gospel. It would seem that the 
myriads who have peopled these regions have always passed 
away into darkness, and no ray from heaven ever beamed 
on their path. And with whom does the guilt rest, if not 
with us who compose the church militant on earth ? My 
mind is filled with sadness when 1 contemplate the prospects 
of these large masses of immortal beings. I see no hope for 
them except in native agents. The more I see of the 
country, its large extent of surface, with its scattered popu- 
lation, and each tribe separated by a formidable distance 
from almost every other, the more convinced I feel that it 
will be impossible, if not impolitic, for the Church to supply 
them all with Europeans, Native Ohristians can make 
known the way of life : there are some in connection both 
with the churches at K arum an and Griqua Town who have 
done it effectually. Others, too, are rising up who will soon 
be capable of teaching ; and if their energies are not brought 
into operation by taking up the field now open before us, I 
do not see where the benevolent spirit springing up among 
the converts of the two Missions is to find an outlet." 

It was in this year (1844) that he was married to a 
daughter of Robert Moffat,— one who proved herself a help- 
mate indeed, and in all the difficulties and hardships of 
their wonderful travels shewed herself worthy of her dis- 
tinguished sire. 

As a result of the foregoing journey, Livingstone deter- 
mined on commencing missionary operations among the 
Bakhatla tribe. The character and condition of this tribe 
are thus described by Livingstone : — - 

" The Bakhatla are at present busily engaged removing 
from their former location to the spot on which we reside 



THE BAKHATLA TRIBE. 



39 



(Mabotsa), and it is cheering to observe that ths subordinate 
chie£s have, with one exception, chosen sites for their 
villages conveniently near to that on which ve propose to 
erect the permanent premises, TVe purpose to build a 
house to serve as school and meeting-house, and when that 
is done, we hope our efforts to impart a knowledge of saving 
truth will assume a more regular form than at present 

"I visited the Bakhatla frequently before the establish- 
ment of the mission, but it was not until my fifth visit that 
sufficient confidence was inspired to draw forth a cordial 
invitation for me to settle among them ; this is the only 
good I can yet ascertain as affected by my itinerancies to 
them. The reason seems to be that too long a period has 
intervened between each journey to produce any lasting 
impression. And this is not to be wondered at, for nothing 
can exceed the grovelling earthliness of their minds. They 
seem to have fallen as low in the scale of existence as 
human nature cam At some remote period their ancestors 
appear to have been addicted to animal worship, for each 
tribe is called after some animai By it they swear, and in 
general they neither kill nor eat it, alleging as a cause that 
the animal is the friend of their tribe. Thus the word 
Batlapi, literally translated, is ' they of the fish;' Bakwain, 
{ they of tlrt crocodile / Bakhatla, Hhey of the -monkey? <fcc. 

"But if the conjecture is not wrong, they have degener- 
ated from even that impure form of worship, and the wisest 
among them have now no knowledge of it, but suppose that 
some of their ancestors must have been called by these 
names. They have reached the extreme of degradation. 
When we compare the Bakhatla with the inhabitants round 
Lattakoo, the latter appear quite civilised ; and their present 
state of partial enlightenment shews that the introduction 
of the Gospel into a country has a mighty influence even 
over those by whom it is either not known or rejected I 
am not now to be understood as speaking of the converts, 



4b LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



nor of the new phases of character the transforming power 
of the Gospel has developed among them, but I allude to 
the unconverted, and to those other than saving influences of 
Christianity which so materially modify the social system 
at home. On many these influences have operated for years-; 
and they have not operated in vain. Hence the mass of 
the population in the Kuruman district are not now in that 
state the Gospel found them, and in which the poor 
Bakhatla now are. There the existence of Deity is tacitly 
admitted by nearly all ; those who form the exceptions to 
this rule denying it rather on account of attachment to their 
lusts than in sober seriousness : and I believe the number is 
but small who have not the idea floating in their minds 
that this life is but the beginning of our existence and 
death, but one event in a life which is everlasting. 

"But the Bakhatla have no thoughts on the subject; 
their mind is darkness itself, and no influences have ever 
operated on it but those which must leave it supremely 
selfish. It is only now that Christians have begun to 
endeavour to stop the stream which has swept them genera- 
tion after generation into darkness. And oh, 'may the 
Holy Spirit aid our endeavours, for without His mighty 
power all human efforts will be but labour in vain.' That 
power excited over Bechuanas — raising them from the 
extreme of degradation and transforming them into wor- 
shippers of the living God — constitutes the wonder and the 
cause for gratitude in the Bechuana Mission." 

It was while stationed at Mabotsa that he had an 
extraordinary adventure with a lion, which, from the 
singular nature of his experiences, merits insertion here. 
Several lions had been carrying destruction among the 
cattle of the natives, and Livingstone went with the people 
to assist in the extermination of the marauders. The lions 
were traced to a small wooded hill, which the people sur- 
rounded, and proceeded to beat through the underwood, 



ADVENTURE WITH A LION. 



4* 



with the view of driving the prey into a position where the 
shooters could see and fire at them. Livingstone having 
fired at one of the animals, was in the act of reloading, 
when he heard a shout of warning from the people near. 

" Starting and looking half round, I saw the lion just in 
the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height, 
He caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to 
the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my 
ear, he shook me as a terrier does a rat. The shock pro- 
duced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a 
mouse after the first shake of a cat. It caused a sort of 
dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain nor feeling 
of terror, though quite conscious of all that was happening. 
It was like what patients partially under the influence of 
chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but feel not 
the knife. This singular condition was not the result of 
any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and 
allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. 
This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals 
killed by the carnivora ; and, if so, is a merciful provision 
by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death. 
Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, as he had 
one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed 
to Mebalwe (a native schoolmaster), who was trying to 
shoot him at a distance of ten or fifteen yards, His gun, a 
flint one, missed fire in both barrels ; the lion immediately 
left me, and attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another 
man whose hip I had cured before, after he had been tossed 
by a buffalo, attempted to spear the lion while he was biting 
Mebalwe ; he left Mebalwe and caught this man by the 
shoulder, but at that moment the bullets he had received 
began to take effect, and he fell down dead. . . . Besides 
crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth 
wounds in my arm." The broken and splintered bones 
were very imperfectly attended to, as Dr. Livingstone had 



42 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



to act as his own surgeon, and the arm ever afterwards was 
of comparatively little service to him. 

Livingstone shrank from inquirers who were anxious to 
have minute details as to the perils he had gone through ; 
not that he really made light of them, but he had a horror 
of sensationalism, and avoided every temptation to enlarge 
upon difficulties which were inevitable at the time of their 
occurrence. "In connection with the above incident," 
says a writer in the " British Quarterly Review" for April 
1874, "we well remember how, when on a visit to England, 
he was eagerly questioned by a group of sympathetic friends 
as to what he was thinking of when in the lion's grasp, 
and how he quietly answered that he was thinking, with 
a feeling of disinterested curiosity, which part of him the 
brute would eat first." 

In 1846 Livingstone removed to Ofoonuane, about forty 
or fifty miles N.E. of Mabotsa, the residence of Sechele, the 
chief of a numerous tribe of Bakwain. He was a remark- 
able man, as had also been hi3 father and grandfather 
before him ; the latter was a great traveller, and was the 
first to tell his people of the existence of a race of white 
men. 

The first time Livingstone held a public religious service, 
Sechele listened with much attention ; and on receiving per- 
mission to ask questions regarding what he had heard, 
inquired if Livingstone's forefathers knew of a future judg- 
ment. On receiving an affirmative answer, and a description 
of the great white throne, and Him who shall sit on it, 
before whose face the heaven and earth shall flee away, &c, 
he said, " You startle me ; these words make all my bones 
to shake ; I have no more strength in me. But my fore- 
fathers were living at the same time yours were, and how 
is it that they did not send them word about these terrible 
things sooner % They all passed away into darkness, without 
knowing whither they were going." Questions like some 



SECHEL&S CONVERSION. 



■o 



frequently asked by children of their elders, more easily 
sympathised with than answered. 

So eager was Sechele to learn to read that he acquired a 
knowledge of the alphabet on the first day of Livingstone's 
residence at Ohounane. Mr. Oswell, a gentleman of inde- 
pendent fortune travelling in the country, from a love of 
sport and adventure, and a desire to extend the geographical 
knowledge of South Africa — who afterwards joined Living- 
stone in his expedition to Lake Ngami — taught him arith- 
metic. After he was able to read, nothing gave him greater 
pleasure than the getting Livingstone to listen to his reading 
of the Bible. Isaiah was his favourite book ; and he would 
frequently say, " He was a fine man, Isaiah ; he knew how 
to speak." Sympathising with the difficulties encountered 
in converting his people, he offered to convert them in a 
body, and could hardly be made to understand Livingstone's 
objection to making Christians in a wholesale manner 
through the agency of whips made of rhinoceros hide. 

In the Missionary Report for 1849 there appears the 
following interesting communication from Livingstone rela- 
tive to the conversion of Sechele and its consequences : — 
" In addition to other effects produced by the Gospel among 
the Bak wains, circumstances have also developed consider- 
able opposition ; but it has been of a kind which has tended 
to encourage rather than depress, inasmuch as our most 
bitter opponents seem to entertain no personal animosity 
towards us, and never allude to their enmity to the Gospel 
in our presence, unless specially invited to state the grounds 
on which it rests. An event which has excited more open 
hostility than any other that has occurred was the pro- 
fession of faith and subsequent reception of the chief into 
church-fellowship. As the circumstances which led us to 
receive his confession as genuine are somewhat peculiar, 
I will briefly mention them, in order to shew the propriety 
of the step which we have taken 



44 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



" Sechele, though generally intelligent, had imbibed to a 
great extent the prevailing superstitions of his couDtry, 
and in addition to his being the chief rain-doctor of the 
tribe, there is evidence to shew that he was reckless of 
human life. He had the reputation among other tribes 
of being addicted to witchcraft, but he himself thought it 
highly meritorious to put all suspected witches to death. 

" From the first day of our residence with the Bak wains 
to the present time the chief attended school and all our 
services with unvaried regularity. The first indication of 
deep feeling I observed in him was when, sitting together 
one day under our waggon, during the heat of noon, I 
endeavoured to describe the ' great white throne,' and * the 
judgment seat,' as mentioned in the Book of Revelation. 
He said, * These words shake all my bones— -my strength is 
gone;' and when I spoke of the existence of our Lord, 
previous to his appearance among men, and of His Divine 
nature, Sechele was greatly surprised. Often, during the 
three years we have spent with this tribe, we have witnessed 
the power of the Word of God in elevating the mind and 
stimulating its affections; and so with the chief. As his 
knowledge increased, he grew bold in the faith, professed 
among his people his own firm belief in the truths of Christ, 
and expressed great thankfulness that the Gospel was sent 
to him while so many remained in darkness. The greatest 
sacrifice he had to make was the renunciation of polygamy. 
In respect to all other sins, the people generally had 
conceived an idea of their sinfulness, but they never 
imagined that in this practice there was any degree of moral 
turpitude. The superfluous wives of Sechele were decidedly 
the most amiable females of the town, and our best scholars; 
and hoping that their souls might also be given to us, we 
felt that it was not our duty otherwise to press the point in 
question than by publicly declaring the whole counsel of 
God. Shortly after, the chief sent two of them back to 



SECHELES CONVERSION. 



45 



their parents, with this message, that he could no longer 
retain them, as the "Word of God had come between them 
and their daughters. With this we observed a gradual 
change in his disposition, and a steady improvement in his 
character; and as he also professed an earnest desire to 
observe the laws of Jesus, we felt no hesitation in receiving 
him to the fellowship of the church. 

" A third wife was taken to her own tribe because she 
had no relatives among the Bakwains, and she left us with 
many tears. A fourth, although in the same situation, we 
thought might remain, because she has a little daughter. 
Each of the wives carried away all that belonged to her, 
and the chief supplied each of them with new clothing 
previous to their departure. As soon as it was known that 
he had renounced his wives on account of the Gospel, a 
general consternation seized both old and young — the town 
was as quiet as if it had been Sunday — not a single woman 
was seen going to her garden — pichos (or councils) were 
held during the night in order to intimidate him from his 
purpose ; but after seeing him tried in various ways for a 
period of two months, we proceeded to administer to him 
the ordinance of baptism. Many of the spectators were in 
tears, but these were in general only tears of sorrow for the 
loss of their rain-maker, or the severance of ties of relation- 
ship. We commend this new disciple to your prayerful 
sympathies ; and to the great God, our Saviour Jesus 
Christ, through the power of whose spirit alone we hope for 
success, be the undivided glory of his salvation ! " 

The drought which afflicted the country shortly after 
Livingstone settled among the people — and after they had 
removed to the Kolobeng, a stream forty miles distant from 
the previous settlement, where an experiment in irrigation, 
under the direction of Livingstone, was tried with much 
success for a time, until the parent stream became dried 
up — was popularly believed to bo the result of the evil 



46 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



influence of the missionaries over the minds of the chief, 
the more especially as he had previously been a believer in 
rain-making, and had a high reputation among his people as 
a rain-doctor. After his conversion and baptism, he for- 
swore the medicines and incantations with which he had 
previously charmed the rain-clouds to descend upon the 
land ; and as this was attributed to Livingstone's influence, 
and the people were starving for want of food and water for 
months, it proved a great hindrance to the good work 
amongst them. 

The Rain-maker is a most important official in savage 
countries where water is scarce, and periods of drought of 
frequent occurrence. When, after weeks or months of dry 
weather, the vegetation of the country is burned up and the 
fountains and streams turned into hollows, filled with loose 
sand, his influence is greater than that of the chief or king 
himself. So implicit is their belief in the power of this 
functionary that they will do anything at his bidding. If 
the rain fails to come at his bidding, as in the case of the 
witch-woman of our English rural districts, sacrifices, 
material or otherwise, are made at his suggestion to pro- 
pitiate the mysterious power who controls the rain. Some- 
times he will cause them to drag the bodies of the dead into 
the bush, and leave them to the hyenas instead of burying 
them. At other times he will demand the heart of a lion 
or a live baboon, or set them some like feat, the accomplish- 
ment of which will take time, trusting that in the interval 
the much coveted rain may come and save his credit. A 
common demand is for sheep and goats to kill, when endless 
methods have been tried, and the heavens " still remain as 
brass." The ignorant savages frequently slay the wretched 
imposter for his failure to make good his pretensions. 

Notwithstanding their dislike to the new religion, its 
preacher and expounder lived amongst them in the most 
perfect safety. He possessed the secret of ingratiating 



THE RAIN-MAKER. 



47 



himself with these savage Africans in a higher degree than 
was ever before known; and whether staying for a time 
among the various tribes, or passing throngh their territory, 
the respect in which he was almost invariably held is the 
most remarkable feature in his career. This noble, resolute, 
and God-fearing man went amongst them for their good, 
and that only, and interfered with nothing that did not lie 
directly in his path of duty. He was there to serve them 
and do them good, and they were quick in discovering this. 
He asked nothing from them, and at all times strove to 
make himself independent of them in the matter of his 
household wants. "With his own hands he built his hut, 
tilled his garden, and dug his irrigating canals. The wild 
animals, needful for the food of his household, fell to his 
own gun; and the fruits of the earth were of his own 
gathering in. During all his years of labour in South 
Africa, his mission cost the inhabitants nothing, while they 
received much in higher ideas of justice and right, and in 
improved skill in husbandry and in the construction of their 
houses. Whatever were their feelings as to the religion he 
taught, the man himself was above the suspicion of evil, 
and went in and out amongst them a genuine representative 
to their minds of manliness, truth, and justice. 

His noble wife was no less popular. Her training as the 
daughter of Robert Moffat made the trials of her life no 
sacrifice to her. In dealing with the women and children 
she was most valuable, and there cannot be a doubt that the 
fact of his being married, and living a happy and contented 
domestic life amongst them, had a great deal to do with the 
influence he possessed over the minds of the ignorant and 
superstitious Bakwains. As a blacksmith and a carpenter 
his skill was superior to theirs, and he never hesitated to 
doff his coat and give any of them the benefit of his labours 
when skill was required, wisely receiving some service 
which they could render him as a set-off In this way a 



48 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



feeling of mutual obligation and exchange of service was 
fostered and encouraged, in which no notion of charity had 
a part. 

In speaking of their daily experience, he tells us that 
they rose about six o'clock. "After family worship and 
breakfast ... we kept school — men, women, and children 
being all united. This lasted until eleven o'clock. The 
missionary's wife then partook herself to her domestic 
affairs, and the missionary engaged in some manual labour, 
as that of a smith, carpenter, or gardener. If he did jobs 
for the people, they worked for him in turn, and exchanged 
their unskilled labour for his skilled. Dinner and an hour's 
rest succeeded, when the wife attended her infant school, 
which the young liked amazingly, and generally mustered a 
hundred strong ; or she varied it with sewing-classes for the 
girls, which were equally well relished. During the day 
every operation must be superintended, and both husband 
and wife must labour till the sun declines. After sunset 
the husband went into the town to converse, either on 
general subjects or on religion. On three nights of the 
week we had a public religious service, as soon as the 
milking of the cows was over, and it had become dusk; 
and one of instruction on secular subjects, aided by pictures 
and specimens." These services were diversified by attend- 
ing upon the sick, and prescribing for them, giving food, 
and otherwise assisting the poor and wretched. The smallest 
acts of friendship, even an obliging word and civil look, are, 
as St. Xavier thought, no despicable part of the missionary 
armour. Nor ought the good opinion of the most abject 
be neglected when politeness may secure it. Their good 
work, in the aggregate, ensures a reputation which procures 
favour for the Gospel, Shew kindness to the reckless 
opponents of Christianity on the bed of sickness and they 
never can become your personal enemies ; there, if anywhere, 
"love begets love." Almost everything they require had to 



DAIL V EXPERIENCES. 



49 



be manufactured by themselves. Bricks to build his house 
were made by himself, in moulds formed of planks sawn 
from trees which fell to his own axe. The abundant forest 
furnished plenty of materials for roofing, doors, windows, 
and lintels. The corn was ground into meal by his wife, 
and when made into dough was baked in an extempore oven 
constructed in an ant-hill, or in a covered frying-pan placed 
in the centre of a fire. A jar served as a churn for making 
butter. Candles were made in moulds from the tallow of 
various animals. Soap was made from the ashes of a plant 
called salsola, or from ordinary wood ashes. Shut out from 
all communication with civilisation, the toil and care 
demanded in supplying their every necessity did not appear 
a hardship. He says, " There is something of the feeling 
which must have animated Alexander Selkirk on seeing 
convenience spring up before him from his own ingenuity ; 
and married life is all the sweeter when so many comforts 
emanate directly from the thrifty, striving housewife's 
hands." 

The good done by continuous labour of this kind, under- 
taken in so noble and self-denying a spirit, is incalculable. 
If the grown-up men and women resisted his persuasions 
and held coldly aloof from his teaching of the Gospel, their 
respect for him induced them to permit their children to 
attend the various religious and secular classes taught by 
him and his devoted wife. The seed sown in these young 
minds before the superstitions of their elders had taken root, 
will in time bring forth an abundant reward for the earnest 
labour expended ; while their general comfort will be greatly 
enhanced by the superior knowledge acquired from him in 
husbandry and other peaceful avocations. 

In a new country just beyond the pale of civilisation, 
always advancing as law and order are extended, reckless 
and adventurous men, most of whom are fugitives from 
justice, establish themselves and prey upon the savage 



LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



tribes, who are unable to defend themselves from their 
cruelty and exactions. A band of such men, under the 
leadership of a Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter, had established 
themselves as far into the interior as the Oashan Mountains, 
on the borders of the Bechuana territory. At first they 
were warmly welcomed by the Bechuanas, because they had 
conquered and expelled a Kaffre chief who had exercised a 
cruel authority over the neighbouring tribes. Their joy 
was short-lived, as they found that the Boers, as Potgeiter 
and his followers, in common with all Dutch settlers and 
their descendants, are called, compelled them to do all their 
manual labour without fee or reward. These men looked 
with no favourable eye on the doings of Livingstone when 
they found that they could neither frighten nor coerce him. 
The teaching that all men were equal in the sight of God 
was most distasteful to men who lived upon the enforced 
labour — the slavery, in fact — of the tribes around them. 
When threats had no avail, they circulated reports that he 
had with him quantities of fire-arms, and that he was 
assisting the Bakwains to make war against their neigh- 
bours. As they could not intimidate Livingstone, they 
sent a threatening letter to Sechele, commanding him to 
surrender to the Dutch, and acknowledge himself their 
vassal, and stop English traders from proceeding into the 
interior. This last was the true bone of contention. 
Possessing a better knowledge of the value of skins, ivory, 
&c, than the Bechuanas, they wished to close the country 
against any traders but themselves. 

Sechele, notwithstanding the risk he ran in quarrelling 
with them, sent them a bold and resolute reply : — 

"I am an independent chief, placed here by God, not 
you. Other tribes you have conquered, but not me. The 
English are my friends. I get everything I wish from 
them. I cannot hinder them from going where they like/' 

The Boers had broken up and sacked several mission 



SECHELE ATTACKED BY THE BOERS. 51 



stations, and conquered the tribes which gave them shelter, 
carrying away men and women as slaves. But the friendly 
Bakwains escaped for a time, and they did not dare to 
attack them until Livingstone was absent on his first 
journey to Lake Ngami, when four hundred armed Boers 
attacked Sechele's town, and slaughtered a considerable 
number of adults, and carried away over two hundred 
children as captives. The Bakwains defended themselves 
bravely until nightfall, killing eight of the Boers, when 
they retreated to the mountains. Under the pretext that 
Livingstone had taught them to defend themselves, and was 
consequently responsible for the slaughter of their fellows, 
his house was plundered ; his books and stock of medicines 
destroyed ; his furniture and clothing, and large quantities 
of stores left by English gentlemen, who had gone north- 
wards to hunt, were carried off and sold to pay the expenses 
of their lawless raid. The reason so few of the Boers were 
slain in this as in other similar expeditions in which they 
indulged, was because they had compelled natives they had 
conquered and enslaved to take their places in the front, 
while they fired upon the people over their heads in com- 
parative safety. In speaking of the determined opposition 
of the Boers, Livingstone says: "The Boers resolved to 
shut up the interior, and I determined to open the country ; 
and we shall see who has been most successful in resolution — 
they or I." 

During the continuance of the drought the Bakwains 
suffered great privations, which Livingstone and his wife 
shared. The wild animals leave a district in such circum- 
stances, and the domestic animals that are not killed and 
eaten to sustain life die of hunger and thirst. Everything 
that would sell was disposed of to tribes more favourably 
situated, in exchange for corn and other necessities. The 
country round was scoured by women and children for the 
numerous bulbous plants which could sustain life, while the 



52 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



men hunted for wild animals in the neighbourhood of the 
infrequent fountains, where they came to slake their thirst 
in their wanderings over the arid and sun-dried country. 

Sometimes when a herd of antelopes, zebras, quaggas, &c, 
were discovered in the neighbourhood they were surrounded, 
and driven with shouts into a V-shaped enclosure, at th<? 
end of which a huge pit was dug, into which they fell and 
were despatched with spears. The meat was equally divided 
among the people, Livingstone coming in for his share with 
the rest. But for the frequent recurrence of such lucky 
hauls as this, the sufferings of the people from an exclusive 
and scanty vegetable diet must have been extreme. 

Livingstone was mainly dependent upon his friends at 
Kuruman for supplies of corn during this trying period, and 
on one occasion they were reduced to use bran as a sub- 
stitute, which required three labourers' grinding powers to 
render it fit for baking into cakes. Supplies of all kinds 
were so irregular that they were fain to put up with locusts 
on many occasions, and while not partial to such a diet, he 
preferred them to shrimps, " though I would avoid both a3 
much as possible." 

As locusts never abound except in a dry season and 
when other kinds of food are scarce, the natives eat them 
whenever they can manage to gather as many as will make 
a dish. This custom is not peculiar to Africa, but extends 
to all tropical countries. The wings and legs are removed, 
and the bodies are hastily prepared in the form of a raw 
cake. We have conversed with more than one traveller 
who has partaken of this dish, and they say that under the 
circumstances they did not find the mess unpalatable. 

A large species of frog, called matlemetto by the natives, 
when procurable was greatly relished, especially by the 
doctor's children. During the continuance of dry weather 
this frog remains in a hole, which it excavates for itself in 
the ground, out of which it emerges during rain, assembling 



ABUNDANCE OF FROGS. 



53 



in numbers -with such rapidity that they are vulgarly sup- 
posed to come from the clouds along with the rain. At 
night they set up a croaking in their holes, which assisted 
Livingstone materially in hunting for them when the cup- 
board was innocent of more preferable flesh meat. 

These frogs are of large size, and having a good deal of 
flesh on their bones, which is both juicy and tender when 
properly cooked, it formed a capital substitute for ox or 
antelope flesh. 

Gordon Oumming, on the occasion of one of his visits to 
Dr. Livingstone, attended Divine service. "I had," he 
says, "considerable difficulty to maintain my gravity as 
sundry members of the congregation entered the church 
clad in the most unique apparel. Some of these wore extra- 
ordinary old hats, ornamented with fragments of women's 
clothes and ostrich feathers. Their fine hats they were very 
reluctant to take off, and one man sat with his beaver on, 
immediately before the minister, until the door-keeper went 
up to him and ordered him to remove it. At dinner we 
had a variety of excellent vegetables, the garden producing 
almost every sort in great perfection ; the potatoes, in 
particular, were very fine. . . . Being anxious to visit 
Sechele and his tribe, Dr. Livingstone and I resolved to 
leave Bakhatla and march upon Chonuane with one of my 
waggons on the ensuing day ; the doctor's object being to 
establish peace between the two tribes, and mine to enrich 
myself with ivory, <fec." 

From this stage in the career of Livingstone the character 
of his labour was destined to be changed. There was to be 
henceforth for him no rest, and no permanent place of 
abode. The mysteries of the unknown and untrodden 
regions of Africa beckoned him onward, and he was pos- 
sessed of all the qualities needful for the work he was so 
eager to engage in. United to a high courage and deter- 
mined perseverance, there was in him an eager longing for 



54 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



knowledge which no difficulties could conquer; and when 
to these qualities we add those which characterise the 
Christian of the purest type, whose loving charity com- 
prehended and embraced all God's creatures, we have 
presented to us the highest example of the Christian hero 
and gentleman. 



CHAPTER IY. 



THE KALAHARI DESERT — DISCOVERS LAKE NGAMI — VISITS 
SEBITUANE — DEATH OP SEBITUANE. 

N the 1st of June 1849, Livingstone started on 
his long contemplated journey, to settle the 
existence of Lake Ngami and visit the numer- 
ous tribes occupying the intervening country. 
He was accompanied by Messrs. Murray and Oswell, two 
enterprising Englishmen, who, in addition to the mere love 
of sport and adventure, were anxious to be of service in ex- 
tending our knowledge of the geography of Central Africa. 
Just before starting, a number of people from the lake 
district came to Kolobeng, with an invitation from their 
chief, Lechulatebe, to Livingstone to visit them. These 
gave so glowing an account of the wealth of the district 
near the lake in ivory and skins that the Bakwain guides 
were as eager to proceed as the strangers were. 

The Kalahari Desert, which lay between the travellers 
and the goal of their hopes, covers a space of country ex- 
tending from the Orange River in the south, about 29°, to 
Lake Ngami in the north, and from about 24° east longi- 
tude to near the west coast. It is not, strictly speaking, a 
desert, as it is covered with coarse grass and several kinds 
of creeping plants, with here and there clumps of wood and 
patches of bushes. But for the want of water the passage 
of this vast tract of country would be comparatively easy, 
and as days frequently passed without so much as a single 
drop being found, the privations of Livingstone and his 
companions, and the oxen which drew their waggons, were 
severe in the extreme. No white man had ever succeeded 




56 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



in crossing it before, but the resolute men who no^ 
attempted it were not to be daunted by difficulty. 

Tribes of Bushmen, whom Livingstone imagines to be the 
aborigines of South Africa, inhabit the desert, and a tribe 
of Bechuanas, called Bakalahari, who had been driven into 
the desert by the more powerful tribes of their own nation, 
he also found settled there, enjoying that liberty which was 
denied them in the more salubrious regions. The Bushmen 
are nomadic in their habits, never cultivating the soil, but 
following the herds of game from place to place. Their 
only domestic animal is a breed of native dogs, which assist 
them in hunting, and which have sadly deteriorated in con- 
sequence of the privations to which they along with their 
masters are exposed. 

The Bakalahari cultivate the scanty and inhospitable soil, 
and grow melons and other tuberous plants, and breed goats 
and other domestic animals. They settle at a distance from 
water, which diminishes the chance of visits from unfriendly 
Bechuanas. The water is carried by their women from a 
distant well or spring, and is stored up in the shells of the 
eggs of the ostrich and buried in the earth. The Bakala- 
hari and the Bushmen hunt the various wild animals for 
their skins, which they exchange with the tribes to the east- 
ward for tobacco and other luxuries, spears, knives, dogs, 
&c, receiving in most cases an inadequate price for them. 
Some idea of the extent of the business done, and the 
abundance of animals in the desert, may be formed from the 
fact that twenty thousand skins were purchased by the 
Bechuanas during Livingstone's stay in their country, and 
these were principally those of the felinae (lions, leopards, 
tiger-cats, &c.). The Bakalahari are mild and gentle in 
their habits, and are frequently tyrannised over by the 
powerful tribes of the Bechuanas with whom they deal. 
The Bushmen, although inferior to them in every way, are 
treated with more respect, their ready use of the bow and 



THE KALAHARI DESERT. 



5? 



the poisoned arrow securing them from pillage and annoy- 
ance. 

Water being the scarcest and most valuable commodity 
in the country, is carefully hidden, to preserve it from any 
wandering band who might take it by force. Livingstone's 
method of conciliating them, and gaining their good opinion, 
was by sitting down quietly and talking to them in a 
friendly way until the precious fluid, which no amount of 
domineering or threatening could have brought forth, was 
produced. 

The progress of the party was necessarily slow, as they 
could only march in the mornings and evenings, and the 
wheels of the waggons in many places sank deep in the 
loose sand. In some places the heat was so great that the 
grass and twigs crumbled to dust in the hand. Hours and 
day 3 of toilsome journeyings were sometimes rewarded by 
the arrival at a spring, where the abundant water fertilised 
a small tract around, on which the grass flourished rank 
and green, affording a welcome meal to the horses and oxen 
after they had slaked their burning thirst at the spring; 
although often for many hours the eyes of the party were 
not gladdened by the sight of such an oasis. At times 
their courage almost died within them, and men and cattle 
staggered on mechanically, silent, and all but broken in 
spirit. After being refreshed, the three travellers would 
enjoy a few hours' hunting at the game which was always 
abundant at such places, and set out again on their journey 
with renewed vigour and high hopes as to the accomplish- 
ment of their purpose, in striking contrast to the despair 
and dread which had been their experience only a few hours 
previous. 

The travellers came upon several great tracts of salt-pans, 
which lay glittering in the sun, shewing so like lakes that, 
on sighting the first one, Mr. Oswell threw his hat up into 
the air at the sight, " and shouted n. huzza which made the 



58 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Bakwains think him mad. I was a little behind," says 
Livingstone, " and was as completely deceived by it as he, 
but as we had agreed to allow each other to behold the lake 
at the same instant, I felt a little chagrined that he had, 
unintentionally, got the first glance. We had no idea that 
the long looked-for lake was still more than three hundred 
miles distant." These mirages were so perfect that even 
the Hottentots, the horses, and the dogs, ran towards them 
to slake their burning thirst. 

After reaching the river Zouga their further progress was 
easy, as they had only to follow its course to find the object 
of their search, from which it appeared to flow. Sebituane 
had given orders to the tribes on the banks of the river to 
assist the travellers in every way, an injunction which did 
not appear to be needed to ensure them kindly treatment at 
the hands of the Bayeiye, as they were called. On inquiring 
from whence a large river which flows into the Zouga from 
the north came from, Livingstone was told that it came 
" from a country full of rivers — so many that no one can 
tell their number." This was the first confirmation of the 
reports he had previously received from travelled Bakwains, 
and satisfied him that Central Africa was not a "large 
sandy plateau," but a land teeming with life and traversed 
by watery highways, along which Christianity and com- 
merce and the arts of peace would in the future be con- 
veyed to vast regions never as yet visited by civilised man. 
From that moment the desire to penetrate into that unknown 
region became more firmly rooted in his mind ; and his 
enthusiastic hopei found vent in his letters to England to 
his friends and corespondents. 

On the 1st of August 1849, Livingstone and his com- 
panions stood on the shore of Lake Ngami, and the 
existence of that fine sheet of water was established. It 
is almost a hundred miles in circumference, and at one time 
must have been of far greater extent, and it was found to 



LAKE NGAML 



59 



be about two thousand feet above the level of the sea, from 
which it is eight hundred miles distant. They found flocks 
of water-birds in and about the lake and the country in the 
neighbourhood of it, and the river running into it abounded 
in animal life. This was the first successful exploration of 
Livingstone which drew the attention of the general public 
towards him, and for a period of twenty-five years he was 
destined to engage the public attention to an extent unpre- 
cedented in the annals of modern travel and adventure. 
Finding it impossible, from the unfriendliness of Lechu- 
latebe, chief of the Batauana tribe, to visit Sebituane, as 
he had intended, the travellers passed up the course of the 
Zouga, the banks of which they found to be plentifully 
covered with vegetation and splendid trees, some of them 
bearing edible fruits. Wild indigo and two kinds of cotton 
they found to be abundant. The natives make cloth of the 
latter, which they dye with the indigo. Elephants, hippo- 
potami, zebras, giraffes, and several varieties of antelopes 
were found in great abundance. A species of thf latter, 
which is never found at any distance from watery or 
marshy ground, hitherto unknown to naturalists, was met 
with in considerable numbers. Several varieties of fish 
abound in the river, which are caught by the natives in 
nets, or killed with spears. Some of these attain to a great 
size, weighing as much as a hundredweight. 

The following letter was addressed by Dr. Livingstone 
to Mr. Tidman, Foreign Secretary, London Missionary 
Society : — 

"Banks of the River Zouga, 3rd September 1849. 
"Dear Sir, — I left my station, Kolobeng (situate 25° 
south lat., 26° east long.), on the 1st of June last, in order 
to carry into effect the intention of which I had previously 
informed you — viz., to open a new field in the north, by 
penetrating the great obstacle to our progress, called the 
Desert, which, stretching away on orfr west, north-west, 



6o LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



and north, has hitherto presented an insurmountable barriei 

to Europeans. 

"A large party of Griquas, in about thirty waggons, 
made many and persevering efforts at two different points 
last year; but though inured to the climate, and stimulated 
by the prospect of much gain from the ivory they expected 
to procure, want of water compelled them to retreat. 

"Two gentlemen, to whom I had communicated my 
intention of proceeding to the oft-reported lake beyond the 
desert, came from England for the express purpose of being 
present at the discovery, and to their liberal and zealous 
co-operation we are especially indebted for the success with 
which that and other objects have been accomplished. 
"While waiting for their arrival, seven men came to me from 
the Batavana, a tribe living on the banks of the lake, with 
an earnest request from their chief for a visit. But the 
path by which they had come to Kolobeng was impracticable 
for waggons ; so declining their guidance, I selected the 
more circuitous route by which the Bermangueato usually 
pass, and having Bakwains for guides, their self-interest in 
our success was secured by my promising to carry any ivory 
they might procure for their chiefs in my waggon ; and right 
faithfully they performed their task. 

" When Sekomi, the Bermangueato chief, became aware 
of our intention to pass into the regions beyond him, with 
true native inhumanity he sent men before us to drive away 
all the Bushmen and Bakalahari from our route, in order 
that, being deprived of their assistance in the search for 
water, we might, like the Griquas above mentioned, be 
compelled to return. This measure deprived me of the 
opportunity of holding the intercourse with these poor 
outcasts I might otherwise have enjoyed. But through the 
good providence of God, after travelling about three 
hundred miles from Kolobeng, we struck on a magnificent 
river on the 4th July, and without further difficulty, in so 



ITS INHABITANTS. 



far as water was concerned, by winding along its banks 
nearly three hundred miles more, we reached the Batavana, 
on the Lake Ngami, by the beginning of August. 

" Previous to leaving this beautiful river on my return 
home, and commencing our route along the desert, I feel 
anxious to furnish you with the impressions produced on my 
mind by it and its inhabitants, the Bakoba or Bayeiye. 
They are totally a distinct race from the Bechuana3. They 
call themselves Bayeiye (or men), while the term Bakoba (the 
name has somewhat of the meaning of 1 slaves ') is applied 
to them by the Bechuanas. Their complexion is darker 
than that of the Bechuanas, and of three hundred words I 
collected of their language, only twenty-one bear any 
resemblance to Sichuana. They paddle along the rivers and 
lake in canoes hollowed out of the trunks of single trees, 
take fish in nets made of a weed which abounds on the 
banks, and kill hippopotami with harpoons attached to 
ropes. We greatly admired the frank manly bearing of 
these inland sailors. Many of them spoke Sichuana fluently, 
and while the waggon went along the bank I greatly enjoyed 
following the windings of the river in one of their primitive 
craft, and visiting their little villages among the reeds. 
The banks are beautiful beyond any we had ever seen, 
except perhaps some parts of the Clyde. They are covered 
in general with gigantic trees, some of them bearing fruit, 
and quite new. Two of the Baobab variety measured 
seventy to seventy-six feet in circumference. The higher 
we ascended the river the broader it became, until we often 
Baw more than one hundred yards of clear deep water 
between the broad belt of reeds which grow in the shallower 
parts. The water was clear as crystal, and as we approached 
the point of junction with other large rivers reported to exist 
in the north, it was quite soft and cold. The fact that the 
Zouga is connected with large rivers coming from the north 
awakens emotions in my mind which make the discovery of 



62 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



the lake dwindle out of sight. It opens the prospect of a 
highway capable of being quickly traversed by boats to a 
large section of well-peopled territory. The hopes which 
that prospect inspires for the benighted inhabitants might, 
if uttered, call forth the charge of enthusiasm — a charge by 
the way I wish I deserved, for nothing good or great, either 
in law, religion, or physical science has ever been accomplished 
without it : however, I do not mean the romantic, nighty 
variety, but that which impels with untiring energy to the 
accomplishment of its object. I do not wish to convey hopes 
of speedily effecting any great work through my own 
instrumentality, but I hope to be permitted to work, so long 
as I live, beyond other men's line of things, and plant the 
seed of the Gospel where others have not planted ; though 
every excursion for that purpose will involve separation 
from my family for periods of four or five months. Kolo- 
beng will be supplied by native teachers during these times 
of absence \ and when we have given the Bakwains a fair 
trial it will probably be advisable for all to move onward. 

" The Bayeiye or Bakoba listened to the statements made 
from the Divine "Word with great attention, and if I am 
not mistaken, seemed to understand the message of mercy 
delivered better than any people to whom I have preached 
for the first time. They have invariably a great many 
charms in the villages; stated the name of God in their 
language (without the least hesitation) to be 'Oreaja,' 
mentioned the name of the first man and woman, and some 
traditionary statements respecting the flood. I shall not, 
however, take these for certain till I have more knowledge 
of their language. They are found dwelling among the 
reeds all round the lake and on the banks of all the rivers 
to the north. 

" With the periodical flow of the rivers great shoals of 
fish descend. The people could give no reason for the rise 
of the water, further than that a chief, who lives in a part 



GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY'S AWARD. 63 



of the country to the north, called Mazzekiva, kills a man 
annually, and throws his body into the stream, after which 
the water begins to now. When will they know Him who 
was slain, that whosoever will may drink of the water of 
life freely?" 

In 1849 the Royal Geographical Society awarded Living- 
stone a gold chronometer watch for his discoveries, and in 
1850 he was awarded a royal premium of twenty-five guineas 
for the discovery of Lake Ngami. Several attempts to reach 
the lake from the east and from the west, one of which was 
specially instituted by the Geographical Society, had failed, 
and many people had begun to look upon the existence of 
the lake as a myth, until they were startled by its dis- 
covery by Livingstone and his fellow-travellers — Messrs. 
Murray and OswelL Erom this time, as his intention of 
penetrating further into the country was well known, great 
expectations were formed of the additions he would make to 
our knowledge of these hitherto unvisited regions ; and as 
we shall see, these were not disappointed, but more abun- 
dantly gratified. 

The second journey to Lake Ngami was undertaken in 
April 1850, with the view of pushing up the Tamunakle, a 
tributary of the Zouga, to visit Sebituane. Sechele, Mrs. 
Livingstone, and her three children, accompanied the in- 
trepid traveller on this journey. Just as he had arranged 
with Lechulatebe to furnish the necessary guides, and to 
undertake the protection of Mrs. Livingstone and the 
children during his absence, the latter were seized with 
fever. As several of their attendants were seized at the 
same time, the attempt was given up as hopeless at this 
time, and the party, after recruiting in the pure air of the 
desert, returned to Kolobeng. 

Writing of this journey from Kolobeng, August 24, 1850, 
Livingstone says: — "Mrs. Livingstone and Mebalwe, the 
native teacher, had joined in my desire to visit Sebituane ; 



6a LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



and Sechele, our chief, having purchased a waggon, the first 
service he wished it to perform was to place him in the 
presence of the man who, in former years, when assaulting 
the Bakwain town, ordered his followers to be sure and 
spare the lives of the sons of Mochoasele (Sechele's father). 
The attack having been made in the dark, Sechele was badly 
wounded, and lay insensible till the morning. When re- 
cognised, Sebituane gave orders to his doctor to attend to 
the wounds, and subsequently restored him to liberty. Had 
we succeeded in reaching Sebituane, the interview between 
the two chiefs might have been interesting. Our chief sent 
a present to his former benefactor last year, but his 
messengers were prevented going in the same way that we 
were. They have been more successful this year ; so, 
though we have not been able to go as far as we intended, 
we are thankful to hear that the way has been opened by 
them. 

' 1 Having no apprehension that Sekomi would throw 
obstacles in our way, we visited his tribe both in going and 
returning. As he is an old friend, I apologised for passing 
to the westward of him in our last trip, on the ground that 
as I knew he was very much opposed to our finding a 
passage to the lake (he having twice refused our request to 
pass), I had determined to go in spite of him, and yet 
without contention. He replied, ' U'ntsitile, mi kia boka ' 
(You beat me, and I thank you, or acknowledge it). His 
entire conduct was the opposite of what it was last year. 

" As the Ngami is undoubtedly a hollow compared to 
Kolobeng, and the Teoge, a river which falls into the lake 
at its N.W. extremity, is reported to flow with great 
rapidity, the region beyond must be elevated. A salubrious 
spot must be found before we can venture to form a settle- 
ment ; but that alone will not suffice, for Kolobeng is two 
hundred and seventy miles by the trochameter from Kuru- 
man, and the lake, by the same instrument, is six hundred 



THE BANKS OF THE ZOUGA. 65 

miles beyond this station. We must have a passage to the 
sea on either the eastern or western coast. I have hitherto 
been afraid to broach the project, but as you are aware, the 
Bechuana mission was virtually shut up in a cul-de-sao on the 
north by the Desert, and on the east by the Boers. The 
Rev. Mr. Fridoux, of Motito, lately endeavoured to visit the 
Ramapela, and was forcibly turned back by an armed party. 
You at home are accustomed to look upon a project as half 
finished when you have secured the co-operation of the 
ladies. Well, then, my better-half has promised me twelve 
months leave of absence for mine. Without promising 
anything, I mean to follow a useful motto in many circum- 
stances and 'try again,' 

" The banks of the Zouga are studded with pitfalls, which 
the Bakhoba dig for the purpose of killing game. Some of 
these are very neatly smeared over with mud, and if a sharp 
look-out is not kept, one finds himself at the bottom with 
the sand running down on him as the first intimation of 
the presence of the trap ; they are from eight to ten feet in 
depth, and the wild animals are so much afraid of them that 
they drink during the night, and immediately depart to the 
desert. Elephants abound in large numbers, but previous 
to our first visit the ivory was of no value — the tusks were 
left in the field with the other bones. I saw thirteen which 
had been thus left, and which were completely spoiled by the 
weather. In our first visit the Batavana would have pre- 
ferred to sell a tusk for a few beads to parting with a goat 
for twice the amount ; they soon, however, acquired a know- 
ledge of the value of ivory. In one village the headman 
informed me that two of his wives had been killed by 
elephants entering the village during the night and turning 
over the huts, apparently by way of amusement. Besides 
elephants, rhinoceros, buffaloes, &c, we observed a new 
species of antelope, called 1 leche it is rather larger than 
the pallah, the horns in shape are like those of the water- 

5 



66 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE. LL.D. 



buck, the colour o£ the skin is a beautiful brownish yellow, 
and its habits are those of the water-buck." 

On the occasion of the third and successful journey, 
undertaken with the view of meeting Sebituane, his wife 
and three children accompanied him as before. Shobo, a 
Bushman, undertook to be their guide ; but losing his way, 
his courage failed him, and he refused to proceed, finally 
disappearing altogether. Driving on at random, the 
travellers suffered terrible privations. At last, knowing that 
water was near by the number of birds they saw, and the 
fresh spoor of the rhinoceros and other animals, they 
unyoked the oxen, and they knowing the signs, pushed 
forward until they came to the Matabe, a tributary of the 
Tamunakle. Their sufferings were so great for several 
days that it almost seemed as if his children were doomed 
to perish before his eyes. This was all the more hard to 
bear, as a supply of water had been wasted by one of the 
servants. His wife looked at him, despair at the prospect 
of losing her children in her eyes, but spoke no word of 
blame. Here the travellers made the acquaintance of that 
terrible insect, the tsetse, whose bite is so fatal to cattle 
and horses. It is not much larger than the common house- 
fly, and is of a brown colour, with three or four bars of 
yellow in the abdomen. Its bite is fatal to the horse, the 
ox, and the dog. Within a few days the eyes and nose 
of the bitten animal begin to run, and a swelling appears 
under the jaws, and sometimes on the belly. Emaciation 
sets in, and at the end of three months, when the poor 
beast is only a mass of skin and bone, purging commences, 
and it dies of sheer exhaustion. Man and the wild animals 
which abound in the district, the goat, the mule, and the 
ass, enjoy a perfect immunity from its bite. 

On the banks of the Chobe the travellers came across a 
number of Makololo men, and learning from them that their 
chief, Sebituane, was absent twenty miles down the river 



VISIT TO SEBITUANE. 



67 



Chobe, Mr. Oswell and Livingstone proceeded in canoes to 
visit him. He had marched some two hundred miles to 
welcome the white men into his country. On hearing of the 
difficulties they had encountered in their endeavours to reach 
him, he expressed his satisfaction at their having at last 
succeeded, and added : " Your cattle are all bitten by the 
tsetse, and will certainly die ; but never mind, I have oxen, 
and will give you as many as you need." 

In their ignorance they thought little of this; but the 
death of forty of their oxen, although not severely bitten, 
too surely attested his better knowledge. 

The great chief Livingstone had so long desired to see 
was a tall, wiry man, with a deep olive complexion. He 
belonged originally to the south of Kuruman, where his 
warlike and undaunted bearing (for he was not born a 
chief) procured him a small following of bold men, who 
retreated before the cruel raid of the Griquas in 1824. 

The Bakwains and others of the Bechuanas made war 
upon him, and drove him to desperate shifts; but his 
courage and genius stood him in good stead through in- 
numerable difficulties, and forcing his way through the 
desert of Kalahari, he maintained for a long period a 
desperate struggle with the Matabele, who were then led by 
a chief called Moselekatse, a warrior almost as renowned as 
himself, for the possession of the country between the Zouga 
and Zambesi After a long and terrible struggle, Mosele- 
katse was finally beaten in his attempt to subject Sebituane 
to his rule. Sebituane's frank and manly bearing, and his 
kindness and benevolence to his people, and the strangers 
who trusted to his hospitality, secured him the affections of 
his own people and that of the tribes which he conquered. 

After he had subdued all the tribes in the neighbourhood 
of Lake Ngami, his strong desire to open up communication 
with white men led him to the country of the Zambesi, 
fighting and conquering every tribe in his line of march 



68 LIFE OF DAVTD LIVINGSTONE, LL.D 



Long before he saw Dr. Livingstone he had determined on 
opening out a highway for trade with the west coast, and 
considering the character of the man, we can readily imagine 
the blow which his untimely death would be to him. No 
wonder he was adored by all who came in contact with 
him. Livingstone tells us that " when a party of poor men 
came to his town to sell their hoes or skins, no matter how 
ungainly they might be, he soon knew them all. A com- 
pany of these indigent strangers, sitting far apart from the 
Makololo around the chief, would be surprised to see him 
come alone to them, and sitting down, inquire if they were 
hungry. He would order an attendant to bring meal, milk, 
and honey, and mixing them in their sight, in order to 
remove any suspicion from their minds, make them feast, 
perhaps for the first time in their lives, to a lordly dish. 
Delighted beyond measure with his affability and liberality, 
they felt their hearts warm towards him, and gave him all 
the information in their power ; and as he never allowed a 
party of strangers to go away without giving every one of 
them, servants included, a present, his praises were sounded 
far and wide. * He has a heart ; he is wise ! ' were the 
usual expressions we heard before we saw him," says 
Livingstone. 

He was much gratified at the confidence reposed in him 
by Livingstone's proposing to leave his wife and children 
with him, in the event of his pushing further into the 
interior, or returning to Kolobeng for his household effects, 
and he promised to convey them to his headquarters, where 
they might locate themselves. But this was not to be: 
these great men but met to part, and that for ever. The 
intrepid chief whose liberal notions had enabled Living- 
stone to push thus far into the interior of the country was 
striken with inflammation of the lungs, and died after a few 
days' illness. On the Sunday afternoon on which he died 
Livingstone visited him, taking his boy Robert with him. 



DEATH OF SEBITUA NE. 



69 



" Come near," he said, " and see if I am any longer a man : 
I am done." Arrived bub recently amongst them, the great 
missionary must have felt cut to the heart that he dare not 
deal as he would have wished with him. He feared to 
attempt to arrest his malady* in case he might be blamed for 
causing his death if he had not succeeded in curing him. 
He could only speak of the hope after death, and commend 
him to the care of God. His last act was characteristic of 
the unselfish kindness of the man. Raising himself from 
his prone position, he called a servant, and said, "Take 
Robert to Manunku (one of his wives), and tell her to give 
him some milk." 

The death of Sebituane was a severe blow to Livingstone. 
Had he lived, much that was to do which proved difficult 
notwithstanding the friendliness of his successor and his 
people, might have been earlier and more easily accomplished 
had that noble and enlightened chief lived to second his 
efforts and possibly share in his journey. "He was," 
Livingstone says, "the best specimen of a native chief I 
ever met. I never felt so much grieved by the loss of a 
black man before, and it was impossible not to follow him 
in thought into the world of which he had just heard before 
he was called away, and to realise somewhat of the feelings 
of those who pray for the dead. The deep, dark question 
of what is to become of such as he must, however, be left 
where we find it, believing that assuredly the Judge of all 
the earth will do right." 

According to his commands, Sebituane was succeeded in 
the chieftainship by a daughter, Mamoschisane — who, how- 
ever, found it impossible to carry out her father's wishes, 
and so abdicated in favour of her brother Sekeletu. This 
could hardly be wondered at, since one of these was that 
she should have no husband, but use the men of the tribe or 
any number of them she chose, just as he himself had done 
by the women; but these men had other wives, and as 



7o LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LJLD. 



Livingstone drily puts it, in a proverb of the country, 
"The temper of women cannot be governed;" and they 
made her miserable by their remarks. She chose one man 
who was called her wife, and her son the child of Mamos- 
chisane's wife ; but disliking the arrangement, shortly after 
her father's death she declared she would never govern the 
Makololo. Sekeletu, who was afraid of the pretensions of 
Mpepe, another member of the family, urged her to continue 
as chief, offering to remain with her and support her 
authority in battle. She wisely persisted in her determina- 
tion to abdicate, indicating Sekeletu as her successor. " I 
have been a chief only because my father wished it. I 
always would have preferred to be married, and have a 
family like other women. You, Sekeletu, must be chief, 
and build up your father's house." 



CHAPTER V. 



EXTRACTS PROM PUBLISHED LETTERS THE SLAVE TRADE. 

HE accounts written by Dr. Livingstone of his 
different journeys are so full of information 
regarding the tribes he came in contact with, 
their strange ways and customs, descriptions 
of the great unknown country hitherto untrod by Europeans, 
with its mighty rivers, lakes, and mountains, that we need 
offer no apology for carrying on our narrative for a year or 
two by extracts from his published letters. 

He writes as follows in June 1851 : — " In our late journey 
to the country of Sebituane, or the region situated about 
two hundred miles beyond the Lake Ngami, we followed 
our usual route towards the Zouga until we came to 
Nahokotsa. From thence our course became nearly due 
north. 

"The people inhabiting these regions are a black race, 
totally distinct from the Bechuanas. The people of Sebit- 
uane are called Makololo, and the black race which we found 
inhabiting the numerous islands is divided into several tribes, 
which pass by different names; as the Barotse, Banyeti, 
Batoko, Bashukulompo, <fcc. The Makololo are a sort of 
omnium gatherum of different Bechuana tribes, all speaking 
Sichuana. The providence of God has prepared the way for 
us, for wherever we went we found Sichuana, into which 
the Bible is nearly all translated, in common use. It is the 
court language. There are besides the different dialects of 
the black tribes — viz., those of the Barotse, Batoka, &c. ; 
and though the radicals bear some resemblance to the 
Sichuana, and are of the same family, none of the Bechuana 




LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



could understand them when spoken. The Barotse are very 
ingenious in basket-making and woodwork generally. The 
Banyeti are excellent smiths, making ox and sheep bells, 
spears, knives, needles, and hoes of superior workmanship ; 
iron abounds in their country, and of excellent quality. 
They extract it from the ore, and they are famed as canoe 
builders ; abundance of fine, light, but strong wood, called 
molompi, enables them to excel in this branch of industry. 
Other tribes are famed for their skill in pottery; their 
country yields abundance of native corn, &c. ; and though 
their upper extremities and chests are largely developed, 
they seem never to have been much addicted to wars. They 
seem always to have trusted to the defences which their 
deep reedy rivers afford. Their numbers are very large. 

" European manufactures in considerable quantities find 
their way in from the east and the west coasts to the centre 
of the continent. We were amused soon after our arrival 
at the Chobe by seeing a gentleman walking toward us in a 
gaudily-flowered dressing gown, and many of the Makololo 
possessed cloaks of blue, red, and green baize, or of different 
coloured prints. On inquiring, we found that these had been 
obtained in exchange for slaves, and that this traffic began 
on the Sesheke only in 1850. A party of another African 
tribe, called Mambari, came to Sebituane in that year, 
carrying great quantities of cloth and a few old Portuguese 
guns marked 1 Legitimo de Braga,' and though cattle and 
ivory were offered in exchange, everything was refused 
except boys about fourteen years of age. The Makololo 
viewed the traffic with dislike, but having great numbers of 
the black race living in subjection to them, they were too 
easily persuaded to give these for the guns. Eight of these 
old useless guns were given to Sebituane for as many boys. 
They then invited the Makololo to go on a fray against the 
Bashukolompo, stipulating beforehand that, in consideration 
for the use to be made of their guns in the attack on the 



THE SLA VE TRADE. 



73 



tribe, they should receive all the captives, while the 
Makololo should receive all the cattle. While on this 
expedition, the Makololo met a party of slave-dealers on the 
Bashukolompo or Mauniche River ; these were either Portu- 
guese or bastards of that nation, for they were said to be 
light coloured, like us (our complexion being a shade darker 
than wash-leather), and had straight hair. These traders 
presented three English muskets to the Makololo, and the 
latter presented them with about thirty captives. The 
Mambari went off with about two hundred slaves, bound in 
chains, and both parties were so well pleased with their new 
customers that they promised to return in 1851. We 
entertained hopes of meeting them, but they had not yet 
come when we left. The Mambari came from the north- 
west, and live in the vicinity of the sea coast on that side ; 
while the other slave-dealers came up the Zambesi from the 
east coast. Can Europeans not equal the slave-dealers in 
enterprise ? If traders from Europe would come up the 
Zambesi, the slave-dealer would be soon driven out of the 
market. It is only three years since we first opened a 
market for the people on the river Zouga and Lake Ngami. 
We know of nine hundred elephants having been killed in 
that period on one river alone. Before we made a way in 
that quarter there was no market; the elephants' tusks 
were left to rot in the sun with the other bones, and may 
still be seen completely spoiled by sun and rain ; but more 
than £10,000 worth of ivory has come from that river since 
its discovery, and if one river helps to swell the commerce 
of the colony, what may not be expected from the many 
rivers, all densely populated, which are now brought to 
light 1 * But the blacks will be supplied with fire-arms, and 
give the colonists much trouble afterwards.' Yes they will, 
and that too, most plentifully by those who make the 
greatest outcry against the trade in arms and the sale of 
gunpowder. But can the trade in fire-arms be prevented 1 



74 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



So long as, according to Oumming's statement, three thou- 
sand per cent, can be made by it, it is in vain to attempt to 
stop it. The result of all our observation in the matter is, 
the introduction of guns among the natives has the same effect 
among them as among European nations ; it puts an end to 
most of their petty wars, and renders such as do occur much 
less bloody than they formerly were. We do not plead for 
the trade. We only say stop that, and stop the slave trade, 
by coercion if you can. If any one will risk something in 
endeavouring to establish a trade on the Zambesi, we beg 
particularly to state that June, July, and August are, as far 
as our present knowledge goes, the only safe months for the 
attempt. He who does establish a fair trade will be no loser 
in the end. We had frost on the Ohobe in J uly, but the winter 
is very short. We saw swallows on Sesheke in the beginning 
of August, and the trees generally never lose their leaves." 

The following account, written by the great traveller of 
his first passage up the Leeambye, or Zambesi, is dated 
Town of Sekeletu, Linyanti, 20th September 1853: — "As 
soon as I could procure people willing to risk a journey 
through the country lately the scene of the gallant deeds of 
the Boers, I left Kuruman ; and my companions being aware 
of certain wrathful fulminations uttered by General Piet 
Scholtz to deter me from again visiting the little strip of 
country which the Republicans fancy lie between Magalies- 
berg and Jerusalem, our progress was pretty quick till we 
entered lat. 19°, at a place I have marked on my map as the 
Fever Ponds. Here the whole party, except a Bakwain lad 
and myself, was laid prostrate by fever. He managed the 
oxen and I the hospital, until, through the goodness of God, 
the state of the invalids permitted us again to move north- 
wards. I did not follow our old path, but from Kamakama 
travelled on the magnetic meridian (N.N.W.), in order to 
avoid the tsetse (fly). This new path brought us into a 
densely wooded country, where the grass was from eight to 



ON THE LEE AM BYE. 



75 



ten feet high. The greater leanness of the trees shewed we 
were in a moist climate, and we were most agreeably sur- 
prised by the presence of vine3 growing luxuriantly, and 
yielding clusters of dark purple grapes. The seeds, as large 
as split peas and very astringent, leave but little room for 
pulp, though the grape itself is of good size. The Bakwain 
lad now became ill, but by the aid of two Bushmen we 
continued to make some progress. I was both driver and 
road-maker, having either the axe or whip in hand all day 
long till we came to lat. 18° 4'. Here we discovered that 
the country adjacent to the Chobe was flooded: valleys 
looked like rivers, and after crossing several we came to 
one, the Sanshureh, which presented a complete barrier to 
further travelling with waggons. It was deep, half a mile 
broad, and contained hippopotami After searching in vain 
for a ford, our two Bushmen decamped. Being very anxious 
to reach the Makololo, I took one of the strongest of our 
invalids, crossed the Sanshureh in a small pontoon, kindly 
presented by Messrs, "Webb and Oodrington, and went 
N.N.W. across the flooded country in search of the Chobe. 
After splashing through about twenty miles of an inundated 
plain we came to a mass of reed, which towards the N.E. 
seemed interminable. We then turned for a short distance 
in the direction of our former waggon-stand, and from a 
high tree were gratified by a sight of the Chobe \ but such 
a mass of vegetation grew between the bank and the flowing 
river that our utmost efforts failed in procuring a passage 
into it. The water among the reeds either became too deep, 
or we were unable to bend down the barrier of papyrus and 
reed, bound together by a kind of convolvulus. You will 
understand the nature of our struggles when I mention that 
a horrid sort of grass, about Bix feet high, and having ser- 
rated edges which cut the hands most cruelly, wore my 
strong moleskin 'unmentionables' quite through at the 
inees, and my shoes (nearly Dew) at the toes. My hand- 



76 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



kerchief protected the former ; but in subsequent travelling 
through the dense grass of the plains the feet fared badly. 
Though constantly wet up to the middle during the day, 
we slept soundly by night during the three days we spent 
among this mass of reeds, and only effected a passage into 
the open water of the Ohobe river on the fourth day. After 
paddling along the river in the pontoon about twenty miles, 
we discovered a village of Makololo. We were unexpected 
visitors, and the more so since they believed that no one 
could cross the Ohobe from the south bank without their 
knowledge. 

" In their figurative language they said, * I had fallen on 
them as if from a cloud, yet came riding on a hippopotamus' 
(pontoon). A vague report of our approach had previously 
reached the chief, and two parties were out in search of us ; 
but they had gone along the old paths. In returning to the 
waggons, which we did in canoes and in a straight line, we 
found the distance not more than ten miles. Our difficulties 
were now ended, for a great number of canoes and about 
one hundred and forty people were soon despatched from 
the town. They transported our goods and waggons across 
the country and river, and when we had landed on the other 
side of the Ohobe, we travelled northward till within about 
one day from Sesheke, in order to avoid the flooded lands 
adjacent to the river. "We there struck upon the path which 
Mr. Oswell and I travelled on horseback in 1850, and turn- 
ing into it proceeded S.W. until we came to Sekeletu's town, 
Linyanti. Our reception here was as warm as could have 
been expected. The chief Sekeletu, not yet nineteen years 
of age, said he had got another lather instead of Sebituane ; 
he was not quite sure, however, about learning to read: 
4 he feared it might change his heart and make him content 
with one wife only, as in the case of Sechele.' It is pleasant 
to hear objections frankly stated. 

" About the end of July we embarked on our journey to 



JOURNEY TO THE NORTH. 



77 



the north, embarking at Sekhose's village on the Zambesi, 
or, as the aborigines universally name it, the Leeambye — 
viz., the river. This village is about twenty -five miles west 
of the town of Sesheke. When I proposed to Sekeletu to 
examine his country and ascertain if there were any suitable 
locality for a mission, he consented frankly ; but he had not 
yet seen me enough. Then he would not allow me to go 
alone ; some evil might befall me, and he would be account- 
able. This and fever caused some delay, so that we did not 
get off till about the end of July. In the meantime I 
learned particulars of what had taken place here since my 
last visit in 1852. 

"The daughter of Sebituane had resigned the chieftain- 
ship into (Sekeletu's) her brother's hands. From all I can 
learn she did it gracefully and sincerely. Influential men 
advised her to put Sekeletu to death, lest he should become 
troublesome when he became older. She turned from thei* 
proposals in disgust, called a meeting, and with a womanly 
gush of tears said she had been induced to rule by hei 
father, but her own inclination had always been to lead a 
domestic life. She therefore requested Sekeletu to take the 
chieftainship, and allow her to marry. 

"He was equally sincere in a continued refusal during 
several days, for he was afraid of being cut off by a pre- 
tender, who had the audacity to utter some threatening 
words in the assembly. I, who had just come from a nine 
weeks' tour, in company with a crowd who would have 
been her courtiers, do not now wonder at the resolution of 
Sebituane's daughter : there was no want of food, oxen were 
slaughtered almost every day in numbers more than suffi- 
cient for the wants of all. They were all as kind and 
attentive to me as they could have been to her, yet to 
endure their dancing, roaring, and singing, their jesting, 
anecdotes, grumbling, quarrelling, murdering, and mean- 
ness, equalled a pretty stiff penance. 



78 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 

" The pretender above referred to, after Sekeletu's acces- 
sion, and at the time of my arrival, believing that he could 
effect his object by means of a Portuguese slave-merchant 
and a number of armed Mambari, encouraged them to the 
utmost. The selling of children had been positively for- 
bidden by the lawful chief Sekeletu, but his rival transported 
the slave- trading party across the Leeambye River, and gave 
them full permission to deal in all the Batoka and Bashu- 
kulompo villages to the east of it. A stockade was erected 
at Katongo, and a flag-staff for the Portuguese banner 
planted, and in return for numerous presents of ivory and 
cattle that really belonged to Sekeletu, the pretender received 
a small cannon. Elated with what he considered success, 
he came down here with the intention of murdering Sekeletu 
himself, having no doubt but that after effecting this he 
should, by the aid of his allies, easily reduce the whole 
tribe." 

" Another Portuguese slave-merchant came also from the 
west. He remained here only three days, and finding no 
market, departed. A large party of Mambari was encamped 
by Katongo, about the time of our arrival at Linyanti. 
No slaves were sold to them ; and when they heard that I 
had actually crossed the Chobe they fled precipitately. The 
Makololo remonstrated, saying I would do them no harm, 
but the Mambari asserted that I would take all their goods 
from them because they bought children. The merchant I 
first spoke of had probably no idea of the risk he ran in 
listening to the tale of a disaffected under-chief. He was 
now in his stockade at Katongo, and influential men pro- 
posed to expel both him and the Mambari from the country. 
Dreading the results which might follow a commencement 
of hostilities, I mentioned the difficulty of attacking a 
stockade which could be defended by perhaps forty muskets. 
* Hunger is strong enough,' said an under-chief — 'a very 
great fellow is he.' As the chief sufferers in the event of 



THE ZAMBESI, 



79 



an attack would be the poor slaves chained in gangs, I 
interceded for them, and as the result of that intercession, 
of which of course they are ignorant, the whole party will 
be permitted to depart in peace : but no stockading will be 
allowed again. 

" Our company, which consisted of one hundred and sixty 
men, our fleet of thirty-three canoes, proceeded rapidly up 
the river towards the Barotse. I had the choice of all the 
canoes, and the best was thirty-four feet long and twenty 
inches wide. With six paddlers we passed through forty- 
four miles of latitude, by one day's pull of ten-and-a-half 
hours : if we add the longitude to this, it must have been 
upwards of fifty miles' actual distance. The river is indeed a 
magnificent one. It is often more than a mile broad, and 
adorned with numerous islands of from three to five miles 
in length. These and the banks, too, are covered with 
forest, and most of the trees on the brink of the water send 
down roots from their branches like the banian. The 
islands at a little distance seem rounded masses of sylvan 
vegetation of various hues, reclining on the bosom of the 
glorious stream. The beauty of the scene is greatly in- 
creased by the date palm and lofty palmyra towering above 
the rest, and casting their feathery foliage against a cloud- 
less sky. The banks are rocky and undulating; many 
villages of Kanyeti, a poor but industrious people, are 
situated on both of them. They are expert hunters of 
hippopotami and other animals, and cultivate grain exten- 
sively. At the bend of Katima Molelo the bottom of the 
river bed begins to be rocky, and continues so the whole 
way to about lat 16°, forming a succession of rapids and 
cataracts which are dangerous when the river is low. The 
rocks are of hard sandstone and porphyritic basalt. The 
rapids are not visible when the river is full; but the 
cataracts of Kale Bombwe and Nambwe are always dan- 
gerous. The fall of them is from four to six feet in 



8o LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



perpendicular height ; but the cataracts of Gonye (hard by) 
excel them all. The main fall of these is over a straight 
ledge of rock, about sixty or seventy yards long and forty 
feet deep. 

"Tradition reports the destruction in this place of two 
hippopotami hunters, who, too eager in the pursuit of a 
wounded animal, were with their prey drawn down into the 
frightful gulf. We also digged some yams in what was 
said to have been the garden of a man who of old came 
down the river and led out a portion of it here for irriga- 
tion. Superior minds must have risen from th^e to time 
in these regions, but, ignorant of the use of letters, they 
have left no memorial. One never sees a grave nor a stone 
of remembrance set up. The very rocks are illiterate; they 
contain no fossils. All these beautiful and rocky parts of 
the valley of the river are covered with forest, and infested 
with the tsetse fly ; but in other respects the country seems 
well adapted for a residence. When however we come to 
the northern confines of lat. 16°, the tsetse suddenly ceases, 
and the high banks seem to leave the river and to stretch 
away in ridges of about three hundred feet high to the 
N.N.E. and N.N.W., until between twenty and thirty miles 
apart ; the intervening space, one hundred miles in length, 
is the Barotse country proper : it is annually inundated, not 
by rains but by the river, as Lower Egypt is by the Kile, 
and one portion of this comes from the north-west and 
another from the north. There are no trees in this valley, 
except such as were transplanted for the sake of shade by 
the chief Santuru ; but it is covered with coarse succulent 
grasses, which are the pasturage of large herds of cattle 
during a portion of the year. One of these species of grass 
is twelve feet high and as thick as a man's thumb. The 
villages and towns are situated on mounds, many of which 
were constructed artificially. 

" I have not put down all the villages that I visited, and 



THE ZAMBESI. 



81 



many were seen at a distance; but there are no large towns, 
for the mounds on which alone towns and villages are built 
are all small, and the people require to live separate on 
account of their cattle. Nailele, the capital of the Barotse 
country, does not contain one thousand inhabitants; the 
site of it was constructed artificially. It was not the 
ancient capital. The river now flows over the site of that, 
and all that remains of what had cost the people of Santuru 
the labour of many years is a few cubic yards of earth. 
As the same thing has happened to another ancient site, the 
river seems wearing eastwards. Ten feet of rise above low- 
water mark submerges the whole valley, except the founda- 
tions of the huts, and two feet more would sweep away the 
towns. This never happens, though among the hills below 
the valley the river rises sixty feet, and then floods the land 
adjacent to Sesheke on both sides. The valley contains, as 
I said, a great number of villages and cattle-stations. 
These, and large herds of cattle grazing on the succulent 
herbage, meet the eye in every direction. On visiting the 
ridges, we found them to be only the commencement of 
lands which are never inundated : these are covered with 
trees, and abound in fruitful gardens, in which are cultivated 
sugar-cane, sweet potato, two kinds of manioc, two kinds of 
yam-bananas, millet, &c. Advantage is taken of the inun- 
dation to raise large quantities of maize and Kaflre corn, 
of large grain and beautiful whiteness. These, with abun- 
dance of milk and plenty of fish in the river, make the 
people always refer to the Barotse country as the land of 
plenty. No part of the country can be spoken of as salu- 
brious. The fever must be braved if a mission is to be 
established ; it is very fatal even among natives. I have had 
eight attacks of it ; the last very severe : but I never laid 
by. I tried native remedies in order to discover if they 
possessed any valuable means of cure; but after being 
stewed in vapour baths, smoked like a red herring over 

6 



82 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL,D. 



fires of green twigs in hot potsherds, and physiced secundum 
black artem, I believe that our own medicines are safer and 
more efficacious. I have not relinquished the search, and 
as I make it a rule to keep on good terms with my pro- 
fessional brethren, I am not without hope that some of their 
means of re-establishing the secretions (and to this, indeed, 
all their efforts are directed) may be well adapted for this 
complaint. 

" I did not think it my duty to go towards Mosioatunya, 
for though a hilly country, the proximity to Moselekatse 
renders it impossible for the Makololo to live there ; but I 
resolved to know the whole Barotse country before coming 
to the conclusion now reached that the ridge east of Nailele 
is the only part of the country that can be fixed on for a 
mission. I therefore left Sekeletu's party at Nailele, the 
Barotse capital, and went northwards. The river presents 
the same appearance of low banks, without trees, till we 
come to 14° 38* lat. Here again it is forest to the water's 
edge, and tsetse. I might have turned now, but the river 
Londa, or Leeba, comes from the capital of a large state of 
the former name, and the chief being reported friendly to 
foreigners, if I succeed in reaching the west coast, and am 
permitted to return by this river, it will be water conveyance 
for perhaps two-thirds of the way. We went, therefore, to 
the confluence of the Leeba or Londa (not Lonto as we have 
written it) with the Leeambye : it is in 14° 11' south. The 
Leeba comes from the north and by west, or N.N. W. ; while 
the Leeambye there abruptly quits it northing and comes 
from the E.N.E. (The people pointed as its course due east. 
Are the Maninche or Bashukulompo River and Leeambye 
not one river, dividing and meeting again down at the Zam- 
besi 1) The Loeti, with its light-coloured water, flows into 
the Leeambye in 14° 18*. It comes from Lebale, which is 
probably a country through which a Portuguese merchant 
informed me he had passed, and had to cross as mar** as ten 



THE MAKOLOLO AND SANTURU. 83 



considerable rivers in one day ; the Loeti comes from the 
W.N.W. The current of the Leeambye is rapid — one 
hundred yards in sixty seconds of time, or between four and 
five miles an hour. Our elevation must have been consider- 
able ; but I had to regret having no means of ascertaining 
how much it was. The country flooded by the river ends 
on the west bank before we reach the Loeti, and there is an 
elevated tableland, called Mango, on which grows grass, 
but no trees. The Barotse country, when inundated, pre- 
sents the appearance of a lake from twenty to thirty miles 
broad and one hundred long. 

"The Makololo quote the precedent of Santuru, who, 
when he ruled this country, was visited by Mambari, but 
refused them permission to buy his people as slaves. This 
enlightened chief deserves a paragraph, and as he was a 
mighty hunter, you will glance at it with no unfriendly eye. 
He was very fond of rearing the young of wild animals in 
his town, and besides a number of antelopes, had two tame 
hippopotami When I visited his first capital, the people 
led me to one end of the mound and shewed me some 
curious instruments of iron, which are just in the state he 
left them. They are surrounded by trees, all of which he 
transplanted when young. 'On these,' said the people, 
'Santuru was accustomed to present his offerings to the 
gods' (Barimo — which means departed souls too). The 
instruments consisted of an upright stem, having numerous 
branches attached, on the end of each of which was a min- 
iature axe, or hoe, or spear. Detached from these was 
another, which seemed to me to be the guard of a basket- 
hilted sword. When I asked if I might take it as a curiosity, 
'0 no, he refuses.' 'Who refuses 1' 'Santuru.' This 
seems to shew a belief in a future state of existence. 
After explaining to them the nature of true worship, and 
praying with them in our simple form, which needs no 
offering on the part of the worshipper except that of the 



84 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



heart, we planted some fruit-tree seeds, and departed in 
peace. 

" I may relate another incident which happened at the 
confluence of the Leeba and Leeambye. Having taken 
lunar observations, we were waiting for a meridian altitude 
for the latitude before commencing our return. My chief 
boatman was sitting by, in order to bind up the instruments 
as soon as I had finished. There was a large halo round the 
sun, about 20° in diameter. Thinking that the humidity of 
the atmosphere which this indicates might betoken rain, I 
asked him if his experience did not lead him to the same 
view. ' no,' said he, ' it is the Barimo who have called a 
picho (assembly). Don't you see they have placed the Lord 
(sun) in their centre 1 ' 

"On returning towards Nailele, I went to the eastern 
ridge in order to examine that, and to see the stockade of 
the Portuguese slave merchant, which was at Katongo. 
He had come from the furthest inland station of the Portu- 
guese, opposite Benguela. I thought of going westward on 
my further travels in company with him, but the sight of 
gangs of poor wretches in chains at the stockade induced 
me to resolve to proceed alone. 

" Some of the Mambari visited us subsequently to their 
flight, of which I spoke before. They speak a dialect very 
much resembling the Barotse. They have not much diffi- 
culty in acquiring the dialects, even though but recently 
introduced to each other. They plait their hair in threefold 
cords, and arrange it down by the sides of the head. They 
offered guns and powder for sale at a cheaper rate than 
traders can do who come from the Cape Colony ; but the 
Makololo despise Portuguese guns, because different from 
those in the possession of other Bechuanas — the bullets are 
made of iron. The slave-merchant seemed anxious to shew 
kindness, influenced probably by my valuable passport and 
letter of introduction fggm the Chevalier Duprat, who holds 



UNHEALTHY STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 85 



the office of arbitrator in the British and Portuguese mixed 
commission in Cape Town. This is the first instance in 
which the Portuguese have seen the Leeambye in the 
interior. The course of Pereira* must be shifted north- 
wards. He never visited the Barotse — so the son and 
companions of Santuru assert — and the event of the visit 
of a white man is such a remarkable affair among Africans, 
it could scarcely be forgotten in a century. 

" I have not, I am sorry to confess, discovered a healthy 
locality. The whole of the country of Sebituane is un- 
healthy. The current of the river is rapid as far as we 
went, and shewed we must have been on an elevated table- 
land; yet the inundations cause fever to prevail very 
extensively. I am at a loss what to do, but will not give 
up the case as hopeless. Shame upon us missionaries if we 
are to be outdone by slave-traders ! I met Arabs from 
Zanzibar, subjects of the Imaum of Muscat, who had been 
quite across the continent. They wrote Arabic fluently in 
my note-book, and boldly avowed that Mahomet was greatest 
of all the prophets. 

" At one time, as I mentioned above, I thought of going 
west in company with the slave-traders from Katongo, but 
a variety of considerations induced me to decide on going 
alone. I think of Loancla, though the distance is greater, 
as preferable to Benguela, and as soon as the rains com- 
mence will try the route on horseback. Trees and rivers 
are reported, which would render travelling by means of a 
waggon impossible. The Portuguese are carried in ham- 
mocks hung on poles; two slaves carry a man. It does not 
look well. 

" I am sorry to say that the Boers destroyed my celestial 
map, and thereby rendered it impossible for me to observe 
as many occultations as I had intended. I have observed 
very few ; these I now send to Mr. Maclear, in order that 
* A Portuguese traveller. 



86 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



he may verify my lunars. If I am not mistaken, we have 
placed our rivers, <fec, about 2° of longitude too far east. 
Our waggon-stand, instead of being 26° east, is not more 
than 23° 50* or 24°. It is probable that an error of my 
sextant, of which I was not aware, deranged the calcula- 
tions of the gentleman who kindly undertook to examine 
them. I send many lunar observations too, and hope it may 
be convenient for Mr. Maclear to examine them, and let you 
know whether I am right or wrong in my calculations. 

" Sportsmen have still some work before them in the way 
of discovering all the fauna of Africa. This country 
abounds in game ; and beyond Barotse the herds of large 
animals surpass anything I ever saw. Elands and buffaloes, 
their tameness was shocking to me: eighty-one buffaloes 
defiled slowly before our fire one evening, and lions were 
impudent enough to roar at us. On the south of the Ohobe, 
where Bushmen abound, they are very seldom heard : these 
brave fellows teach them better manners. My boatman 
informed me that he had seen an animal with long wide 
spreading horns like an ox, called liombikalela— perhaps the 
modern bison ; also another animal, which does not live in 
the water, but snorts like a hippopotamus, and is like that 
animal in size — it ha3 a horn, and may be the Asiatic 
rhinoceros. And we passed some holes of a third animal, 
which burrows from the river inland, has short horns, and 
feeds only by night. I did not notice the burrows at the 
time of passing, but I give you the report as I got it. 

" The birds are in great numbers on the river, and the 
sand-martins never leave it. We saw them in hundreds 
in mid-winter, and many beautiful new trees were interest- 
ing objects of observation ; but I had perpetually to regret 
the absence of our friend Mr. Oswell. I had no one to 
share the pleasure which new objects impart, and instead 
of pleasant conversation in the evenings, I had to endure 
the everlasting ranting of Makololo." 



CHAPTER VI. 



STARTS ON HIS GREAT JOURNEY — ASCENDS THE LEEAMBYB 
AND THE LEEBA — REACHES LOANDA — VISITS SAINTE — 
WEAK FROM FEVER. 

HIS, the longest journey he had yet undertaken, 
and during which for many months his safety 
was to be a matter of painful speculation to 
his friends and the thousands of intelligent 
men and women throughout the civilised world who had 
been watching the doings of the intrepid missionary — 
extended from the south coast to St. Paul de Loanda, the 
capital of Angola, on the west coast. 

As Sekeletu and the headmen of the Makololo were as 
alive to the advantages which would accrue to them from 
the opening out of trade with the west coast as Livingstone 
was for these and higher purposes which they could not 
comprehend, every assistance was rendered which could help 
a traveller in carrying out his bold and daring attempt to 
make his way across the country. A picho, or conference 
of the headmen of the tribe, presided over by the chief, was 
held to discuss the adventure, and the best way of assisting 
in it. One of the old men, who was famed as a croaker, 
said, "Where is he taking you to 1 ? This white man is 
throwing you away. Your garments already smell of 
blood." This foreboding had no influence on Sekeletu or 
any of his men ; they were too much accustomed to hearing 
his prognostications of evil from every enterprise, and it 
was decided that a band of twenty-seven picked men, 
principally Barotse — they being best acquainted with the 
tribes to the west — should accompany Livingstone, as the 




88 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



contribution of the chief and his people towards the 
accomplishment of an object so desirable to all. 

In answer to the question whether, "In the event of 
your death, will not the white people blame us for having 
allowed you to go away into an unhealthy and unknown 
country of enemies f " Livingstone replied that none of his 
friends " would blame them, because he would leave a book 
with Sekeletu to be sent to Mr. Moffat in case I did not 
return, which would explain to hiin all that had happened 
until the time of my departure." This book was a volume of 
his journal, and months afterwards when the Makololo were 
despairing of ever seeing or hearing anything of him again, 
it was delivered along with a letter by Sekeletu to a trader to 
be delivered to Mr. Moffat. No trace of this journal could be 
found on his return, which was a matter of much regret, as 
it contained valuable notes on the habits of wild animals, <fcc. 

The following illustrates admirably the spirit which 
animated this extraordinary man when ready to start on 
his dangerous enterprise. " The prospect of passing away 
from this fair and beautiful world thus came before me in a 
pretty plain matter-of-fact form ; and it did seem a serious 
thing to leave wife and children, to break up all connection 
with earth, and enter on an untried state of existence. I 
find myself in my journal pondering over that fearful 
migration which lands us in eternity, wondering whether an 
angel will soothe the fluttering soul, sadly flurried as it must 
be on entering the spirit world, and hoping that J esus might 
speak but one word of peace, for that would establish in the 
bosom an everlasting calm. But as I had always believed 
that, if we serve God at all, it ought to be done in a manly 
way, I wrote to my brother, commending our little girl to 
his care, as I was determined to succeed or perish in the 
attempt to open up this part of Africa. The Boers, by 
taking possession of all my goods, had saved me the trouble 
of making a will ; and considering the light heart now left 



STARTS ON HIS GREAT JOURNEY. 89 



in my bosom, and some faint efforts to perform the duty of 
Christian forgiveness, I felt that it was better to be the 
plundered party than one of the plunderers. n 

Wisely resolving that his baggage should be so limited in 
quantity as not to excite the cupidity of any unfriendly 
tribe, he took with him only three muskets, a rifle, and a 
double-barrelled gun, with the necessary ammunition, a few 
biscuits, several pounds of tea and sugar, and about twenty 
pounds of coffee, a beverage greatly relished by the natives. 
Of wearing apparel, independent of what they wore, they 
had a small tin canister filled with shirting, trousers, and 
shoes, to be donned when the party reached the neigh- 
bourhood of civilisation, and another supply in a bag was 
for use during the journey. 

Another tin can contained a stock of medicines. A third 
contained his books, consisting of a nautical almanack, 
Thomson's Logarithms, and a Bible; and a fourth box 
contained a magic lantern, a sextant and artificial horizon, 
a thermometer, a chronometer watch with a stop for seconds, 
and a small but powerful telescope, with a stand capable of 
being screwed to a tree, and two compasses, one of them for 
the pocket, were carried apart. A small gipsy tent to sleep 
in, a blanket, and a horse-rug, from the simplicity of the 
other impedimenta, might be termed the luxuries of his 
baggage-rolL As the country, so far as explored by him, 
abounded in game, he trusted to his good rifle and double- 
barrelled gun for furnishing the bulk of the food required ; 
but in case of having to pass through a country where these 
were not plentiful, twenty pounds of beads of the value of 
forty shillings were set apart for the purchase of such neces- 
sities in the way of food as they might require. In addition 
to the absolutely necessary baggage, the party carried with 
them four elephants' tusks belonging to Sekeletu, by the 
sale of which they were to test the value of the market on 
the coast. 



go LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, Ll.D. 



Surely never -was so formidable a journey undertaken with 
so little preparation in the way of mere personal comfort and 
convenience; but the want of hundreds of those things 
usually supposed to be " indispensable to travellers " under- 
taking journeys of trifling danger and extent in comparison, 
were more than made up by a large stock of pluck and 
endurance, and the courage and resolve which are born of 
an enterprise which had for its object no thought of personal 
interest, vainglory, or aggrandisement, but was undertaken 
in the noblest spirit, solely in the interest of the physical 
and spiritual welfare of the savage tribes of Central Africa. 

Scouts were sent to examine the country to the west to 
discover an outlet from Linyanti by a nearer route than the 
one taken on the previous journey, but none could be found 
free from the plague of tsetse, and such as were defiled by 
the existence of the slave trade ; and a passage through the 
latter for an expedition, the leading material purpose of 
which was the extinction of that detestable traffic, was out 
of the question. The expedition started for the Ohobe on 
the 4th November 1853, and commenced their voyage down 
that river at the island Manuka, where Livingstone had 
first met Sebituane. Here Sekeletu and several of his 
principal men who had accompanied them thus far took 
leave of them, wishing them success. After paddling at the 
rate of five miles an hour for forty-two hours, they reached 
the Leeambye, and proceeding up the river, they reached 
Sesheke on the 19th of November. 

Moriantsane, a brother-in-law of Sebituane, the chief of 
the various tribes in and around Sesheke, supplied Living- 
stone with milk, honey, and meal, and sent scouts up the 
river to the villages he was to stop at, enjoining the head- 
men to have food ready for him and his party. The chief 
and large numbers of the people assembled in the open air 
to listen to religious addresses from Livingstone. The 
audiences were very attentive, and appeared anxious to 



ABUNDANCE OF FOOD AND FRUIT. 



91 



profit by the instruction received, betraying their interest by 
asking explanations of those things which were beyond their 
comprehension. Moriantsane acted as a kind of amateur 
beadle in keeping order, on one occasion hurling his staff at 
some young man he saw toying with a skin instead of 
listening to the speaker. 

In their passage up the river abundance of food and fruit 
was provided, and several varieties of the latter are worthy 
of notice. A fruit about the size of an orange contains a 
number of seeds or pips imbedded in layers of a pleasant 
juicy pulp. From the pips and bark are derived a variety 
of nux vomica, from which strychnia is extracted. A fruit 
called mobola, about the size of the date, when stripped of 
the seeds and dried forms a very palatable dish, with a 
flavour of strawberries ; in a dried state it can be preserved 
for a considerable period. The most palatable fruit of the 
district is called the mamosho ; it is about the size of a 
walnut. These fruits, which in the Leeambye valley grow 
on trees, some of them attaining a great size, are found in the 
Kalahari Desert, where they exist as small herbaceous 
plants. In the well-watered country, plants which in the 
dry regions of the south are mere shrubs become great 
trees, illustrating in a remarkable manner the effect of the 
drying up of the numerous water-courses in regions once as 
rich in vegetation as the valleys of the Zambesi and its 
tributaries. A number of his attendants, with the baggage 
and oxen of the party, marched by land, the canoe party 
regulating their advance to suit their rate of progress. 

Passing up the placid Leeba he saw a tree in flower, 
which brought the pleasant fragrance of hawthorn hedges 
back to memory ; its leaves, flowers, perfume, and fruit 
resembled those of the hawthorn, only the flowers were as 
large as dog-roses, and the " haws like boys' marbles." On 
the banks of the Leeba and Leeambye, and further to the 
north, the flowers are distinguished for their sweet perfume ; 



92 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



a pleasant contrast to many of those further to the south, 
which emit either no smell or only a nauseous odour. 

Crocodiles were very numerous, and as it was the season 
for hatching, large numbers of young ones, from a foot long 
and upwards, were met with ; the little creatures biting 
savagely at the spears with which his attendants impaled 
them. The natives search for and eat the eggs when they 
are fresh, so that an increase of population would greatly 
diminish the number of these dangerous reptiles. They 
feed on fish and the smaller species of game which come to 
the water to drink ; now and again picking a child, a woman, 
or a man off the banks, or seizing them in the water when 
bathing. The natives have little dread of them, and when 
armed with a knife or javelin go into the water and attack 
and kill them. One of Livingstone's attendants, in swim- 
ming across a creek, was seized by one, but being armed 
with a javelin, he wounded it severely behind the shoulder, 
and escaped with a severe teeth-wound in the thigh, where 
the brute had seized him. 

Wending their way up stream they arrived at the village 
of a female chief, Nyamoana, the mother of Manenko and 
the sister of Shinte, the greatest Balonda chief of the Leeba 
district. Nyamoana gave Livingstone an audience. She 
was seated alongside of her husband, on skins, on a raised 
couch surrounded by a trench. Round this trench sat 
about a hundred of her people of all ages, the men armed 
with bows, spears, and broadswords. After a short palaver, 
Livingstone drew their attention to his hair, which was 
always a subject of curiosity in the district. They imagined 
it a wig made of a lion's mane, and could hardly believe it 
to be hair. He explained to them that his was the real 
original hair, " such as theirs would have been had it not 
been scorched and frizzled by the sun." In proof of what 
the sun could do he uncovered his bosom, and shewed them 
the contrast between its white hue and his bronzed face and 



CURIOSITY OF THE NATIVES. 



93 



hands. As they go nearly naked and exposed to the sun, 
this practical lesson enabled them readily to grasp the 
idea of a common origin for whites and blacks. This was 
a familiar illustration of Livingstone's in addressing the 
natives. 

Nyamoana's people were very superstitious, and it was hers 
that he first saw evidence of the existence of idolatry. The 
idol was a human head rudely carved on a block of wood. 
His watch and pocket-compass were scanned with much 
curiosity; but although invited to look at them by her 
husband, the chief appeared to be afraid of them, and could 
not be persuaded to approach near enough to see them. 

On expressing his intention of proceeding up the Leeba, 
which appeared still to come from the direction he wished 
to go, Nyamoana urged him not to do so, as there was a 
cataract in front, and the Balobale, whose country lie3 to 
the west of the river, might kill the party. As the Balobale 
were unfriendly to the Makololo, his attendants joined with 
her in urging that they should proceed by land, and visit 
her brother Shinte. In the midst of the discussion, Manenko 
appeared upon the scene, and throwing her influence into 
the scale, carried the day against the further ascent of the 
river. 

Manenko was a tall, well-formed, hardy, and masculine 
woman, about twenty years of age ; a profusion of orna- 
ments and medicines, supposed to act as charms, being 
suspended about her person. She scarcely wore any cloth- 
ing, and her body was smeared with a mixture of fat and 
red ochre, as a protection against the weather. When asked 
why she, who could procure plenty of clothing, went about 
in a state of nudity, she replied that it was necessary for her 
as chief to shew her indifference to the weather. She was a 
splendid pedestrian, and on a march made her attendants and 
companions glad when she proposed a halt. Livingstone's 
people succumbed at once to the strong will of this female 



94 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



ruler; and Livingstone himself, though resolute and in- 
flexible in carrying out his own purposes in his own way, 
was compelled to give way to her wishes. What could he 
do or say when a difference arose, when, approaching him, 
she put her hand on his shoulder in a motherly way, and 
said, " Now, my little man, just do as the rest have done " ? 

As the tribes in the districts where he now found himself 
had no cattle, the party suffered severely from the want of 
food. All they had had for several days was a small dole 
of manioc roots every evening from Nyamoana. This was 
the state of affairs when Mosantu arrived from his visit to 
Masiko, accompanied by an imposing embassy consisting of 
his under chiefs, who brought a fine elephant's tusk, two 
calabashes of honey, and a large piece of blue baize, as 
presents. He sent his expressions of pleasure at the return 
of the captives, and at the prospects of a peaceful alliance 
with the Makololo. 

An ox was given by Livingstone as a return for his gifts ; 
but the poor under chiefs were so hungry that they wished 
to kill and eat it. On asking his permission to do this he 
was reluctantly compelled to decline, as he had nothing he 
could send instead, and had no food to offer them. 

Manenko and her husband Sambanza, accompanied by a 
drummer whose duty it was to thump regularly on his 
drum in order to acquaint all people they might meet with 
the fact that a personage of importance was coming, started 
to escort Dr. Livingstone and his party to Shinte's town. 
The rain poured in torrents, notwithstanding that her 
husband endeavoured to stop it by various incantations and 
vociferations. Manenko marched on unconcernedly at such 
a rate as made it difficult for the men to keep up with her. 
Livingstone being still weak from fever, which was aggra- 
vated by the low diet of the last few days, was on oxback, 
the indomitable Manenko walking by his side, keeping up a 
lively conversation. All suffered from want in this journey; 



ARTIFICIAL BEEHIVES* 



the bulk of what they got was begged from the inhabitants 
of the villages they passed, and they were a sad contrast 
to the kindly Makololo, for on several occasions they re- 
fused to give them even the scantiest supply. Even when, 
on one occasion Manenko herself went to beg something 
for Livingstone, she only managed to procure five ears of 
maize, and this notwithstanding that the headman of the 
village was a subject of her uncle's. 

In the forests they came upon artificial beehives, which 
are formed by removing the bark whole from a tree, which 
is then sewn up, closed at both ends, and after a hole is 
perforated in each for the bees to pass in and out by, they 
are hung upon the trees. The bees finding so suitable a 
place for the deposit of their honey and wax, take posses- 
sion of it, and at the proper season their store is removed 
by the natives. In this way all the honey and wax ex- 
ported from Loanda is collected. A piece of medicine (a 
charm) is attached to the tree, and proves a sufficient pro- 
tection. Their idolatry is the result of fear only; and their 
dread of unknown and terrible consequences keeps the 
people honest under such circumstances. 

To the west of the Leeba, Livingstone and his men found 
it useless to follow the fluttering flight of the bee eater, or 
honey bird, as all the bees of the district were artificially 
provided with hives ; and he would not permit any of the 
hives to be interfered with. 

Great quantities of edible mushrooms were found in the 
forest, and as they were pleasant to eat, some of them even 
when raw, they proved a great blessing in their present 
half -starved condition. Some of these grow to a great size 
— as large as the crown of a hat — and several of them are 
of colours unknown to Europe, one being dark blue. In 
this district he first saw signs of the insecurity of life and 
property. The huts were closed with upright stakes, which 
were removed and replaced as the inmates went in or 



g6 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



departed. The dealings with the Mambari in slaves, and 
the over-reaching nature of their bargainings, had intro- 
duced a lower state of morals than he found prevailing 
among the Bechuanas and the Makololo, where theft and 
over-reaching were all but unknown in their transactions 
with each other, and the relations between the members of 
each tribe were conducted with primitive simplicity and 
justice. In all ages and at all times, wherever slavery 
exists and is fostered by white men, the vices of civilisation, 
without its virtues, become rampant. 

Kabompo, Shinte's town, stands in a pleasant green 
valley with a limpid brook running through it. The town 
was embowered in trees, and the huts were well built, and 
had square walls (the first he had seen) and circular roofs. 
The streets were straight, and each hut had its patch ol 
ground, in which tobacco, sugar-cane, and bananas were 
carefully cultivated, the whole being surrounded by a 
straight fence of upright poles a few inches apart, with 
grass or leafy branches interwoven between. Outside these 
fences trees of the Ficus Indica family, which they hold in 
veneration, form a grateful shade. Two native Portuguese 
traders, and a large number of Mambari were in the town, 
dealing in their wares and trading in human flesh. For 
the first time the Makololo men saw slaves in chains. 
" They are not men," they exclaimed, " who treat children 
so." 

Shinte gave Livingstone a grand reception in the Kotla, 
or place of assemblage. About a hundred women were 
present ; this was the first occasion in which he had seen 
women present in the Kotla on a formal or state occasion. 
A party of musicians, consisting of three drummers and 
four performers on the marimba, filled up the intervals with 
music. The marimba " consists of two bars of wood placed 
side by side, here quite straight, but farther north, bent 
round so as to resemble half the tire of a carriage wheel ; 



GRAND RECEPTION. 



97 



across these are placed about fifteen wooden keys, two or 
three inches broad and fifteen inches long ; their thickness 
is regulated according to the deepness of the note required ; 
each of the keys has a calabash beneath it From the upper 
part of each a portion is cut off to enable them to embrace 
the bars, and form hollow sounding-boards to the keys ; and 
little drumsticks elicit the music. Rapidity of execution 
seems much admired among them, and the music is pleasant 
to the ear." 

After a man had imitated " the most approved attitudes 
observed in actual fight, as of throwing one javelin, receiv- 
ing another on the shield, springing to one side to avoid a 
third, running backward and forward, leaping, &c, Sam- 
banza (Manenko was indisposed) and the spokesman of 
Nyamoana stalked backward and forward before Shinte, 
giving him a full and true account, so far as they knew, of 
the white man and his object in passing through the country, 
recommending him to receive him well and send him on his 
way. Several speakers among his own headmen also de- 
livered orations, the women bursting into a plaintive melody 
between each. This over, Shinte stood up, and the reception 
was at an end. The power and standing of Shinte among 
the Balonda chiefs was borne out by the numbers present, 
there being about a thousand people and three hundred 
armed men." 

On this occasion no communication passed between 
Livingstone and Shinte. By some mistake the former was 
permitted to take a seat at a considerable distance from the 
latter; and the one being too dignified to approach his 
guest, and the other imagining that all was according to 
etiquette at Kabompo, they parted without exchanging a 
word, but it was remarked by his attendants that Shinte 
scarcely took his eyes off Livingstone during the interview. 
Next day Livingstone was commanded to visit him, and 
found him frank and straightforward ; he was about fifty- 



98 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, j 



five years of age, about the middle height, and of dignified 
bearing. After discussing Livingstone's plans, he signified 
his approval of them. After the business was over, Living- 
stone inquired if he had ever seen a white man before. 
" Never ; you are the very first man I have seen with a 
white skin and straight hair ; your clothing, too, is different 
from any we have ever seen." 

On receiving a hint that " Shinte's mouth was bitter for 
want of tasting ox-flesh," Livingstone presented him with 
one, to his great delight, recommending him to trade in cows 
with the Makololo, as his country was so well adapted for 
them. When he visited him on the return journey Living- 
stone found that this shrewd savage had followed his advice. 
When Manenko, who was busy preparing a hut and court- 
yard suitable to her pretensions, heard that the white man 
had presented her uncle with an ox, she was very wroth. 
" This white man belonged to her. She had brought him, 
and therefore the ox was hers, not Shinte's," and ordering 
her men to bring it, she had it slaughtered, only sending 
her uncle a leg, with which he appeared to be quite con- 
tented. She evidently had her own way with him, as with 
all others with whom she came in contact. 

The magic lantern was a never-failing source of interest 
and instruction everywhere ; the simple savages never tired 
of looking at the pictures, many of them travelling miles to 
see them, chiefs and people inquiring minutely as to the 
meaning of every picture. As many of them were illustra- 
tions of Scripture subjects, he found it a ready means of 
introducing them to Bible truths. A kind of beer or mead 
is largely drunk among the Balonda, and many cases of 
intoxication — a thing unknown further south — were 
observed. Sambanza, the husband of Manenko, got hope- 
lessly tipsy on one occasion, and staggered towards the hut 
of his wife ; and although, as Livingstone says, she " had 
never promised * to love, honour, and obey him,' she had not 



LETTER TO SIR RODERICK MURCHISON. 99 



been * nursing her wrath to keep it warm,' so she coolly 
bundled him into the hut and put him to bed." 

At their last interview Shinte presented Livingstone 
with a string of beads and the end of a common sea-shell 
mounted with string, {< which is considered in regions far 
from the sea of as great value as the Lord Mayor's badge 
in London. He hung it round my neck, and said, ' There, 
now you ham a proof of my friendship.' " For two such 
shells he afterwards found a slave could be bought, and five 
of them were considered a handsome price for an elephant's 
tusk worth ten pounds. 

The following extract from Livingstone's first letter to 
Sir Roderick Murchison supplements the above account of 
his interview with Shinte :— 

"We were received in what they consider grand style. 
The old chief sat upon a species of Ficics Indica, on a raised 
seat, having some hundreds of women behind him, all decked 
out in their best, and that best was a profusion of red baize. 
Some drums and primitive instruments made of wood were 
powerfully beaten; and different bands of men, each 
numbering about fifty or eighty persons, well armed with 
large bows and iron-headed arrows, short broadswords and 
guns, rushed yelling towards us from different quarters. As 
they all screwed up their faces so as to look very fierce and 
savage, I supposed they were trying whether they could not 
make us take to our heels. But they knelt down and made 
their obeisance to Shinte, which in all this country consists 
in rubbing dust on the upper and front part of the arms and 
across the chest. When several hundreds had arrived, 
speeches were delivered, in which my history, so far as they 
could extract it from my companions, was given. 'The 
Bible containing a message of peace ; ' * the return of two 
captives to Shinte ; ' { the opening of a new path for trade/ 
&c, were all described. 'Perhaps he is fibbing, perhaps 
not ; they rather thought he was.' * But as they were good- 



ioo LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



hearted, and not at all like the Balobale, or people of Seke- 
letu, and had never done any evil to any one, Shinte had 
better treat him well and send him on his way.' The 
women occasionally burst forth with a plaintive ditty, but 
I could not distinguish whether it was in praise of the 
speakers or of themselves ; and when the sun became hot 
the scene closed. 

" Shinte came during the night and hung around my neck 
a particular kind of shell, which is highly valued as a proof 
of the greatest friendship; and he was greatly delighted 
with some Scriptural pictures which I shewed him from a 
magic lantern. The spirit of trade is strong in all Africans, 
and the Balonda chiefs we visited all highly approved of our 
journey. Each expressed an earnest hope that the projected 
path might lead through his town. Shinte facilitated our 
progress to the next important chief, named Katema." 

After furnishing him with guides and a stock of provisions, 
they parted with mutual good wishes, each being serviceable 
to the other to an extent of which Shinte had little idea. 

The great explorer was now in regions where his know- 
ledge of the language of the Bechuanas and the Makololo was 
of no service to him ; and he speaks bitterly of the incon- 
venience and drawbacks of speaking through an interpreter. 

From Kabompo to Katema's town, Livingstone and his 
party passed across a beautiful country rich in woods and 
fertile plains, the latter covered from a depth of a few inches 
to several feet with water, the result of the incessant rains 
which fell daily. In this vast plain the rivers which unite 
to form the Zambesi take their rise. The people at the 
various villages were very friendly, presenting Livingstone 
and his party with abundance of food, and even striving 
who should have the pleasure of entertaining them. The 
people were very superstitious, their superstition taking the 
form of a dread and terror of some being or beings unseen, 
and supposed to be near and dangerous. In the forests 



INTELLIGENCE OF THE NATIVES. 



101 



medicines were found fixed to the trees as charms ; human 
faces cut out of the bark, and propitiatory gifts hung in the 
branches, and bundles of twigs, to which every passer-by 
added his or her quota, all designed as offerings to the 
unseen powers, who draw them by fear and not by loTe, 
were frequently met with. 

Several remarkable chiefs and headmen were met and 
conversed with during this stage of the journey. Mozinkwa, 
a headman of Katema's and his wife (he had only one), 
were above the ordinary run in character and intelligence, 
They had a large and well-kept garden, hedged round. The 
hut and courtyard were surrounded by a living and im- 
penetrable wall of banian trees. Cotton grew round all 
the premises. Plants used as relishe3 to the insipid 
porridge of the district, castor-oil plants, Indian brignalls, 
yams, and sweet potatoes were carefully and successfully 
cultivated. Several large trees planted in the middle of 
the yard formed a grateful shade to the huts of the family, 
who were fine specimens of the negro race at its best. 
Livingstone was much touched by the worth and kindness 
of this family, and amongst other things promised to bring 
the wife a cloth from the white man's country on his return ; 
but alas ! before his return she was dead, and Mozinkwa 
and his family had forsaken their pleasant huts and gardens 
as a Balonda man cannot live in a spot where a favourit< 
wife has died, 

In speaking to these people on religious subjects, he 
found that nothing made so much impression upon them as 
the fact that the Son of God came down from heaven to die 
for men, and really endured death in our stead out of pure 
love, and to tell about God and the place from whence He 
had come, If this method of interesting them did not 
succeed, he found it impossible to move them. As human 
sacrifices had been at one time common among the Balonda, 
and at the time of Livingstone's visit were still practised to 



102 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



a limited extent on the occasion of the death of great 
chiefs, &c, they readily appreciated the extent of the 
sacrifice made by a great being in submitting himself to 
death in the place of others. 

Quendende, the father-in-law of Katema, a fine old man 
with long woolly hair reaching to the shoulders, plaited on 
either side, and the back hair gathered into a lump on the 
nape of the neck, received a visit which gratified him much. 
Quendende was a snuff-taker, and prepared the titillating 
powder in a primitive fashion; the leaves of the tobacco 
plant after being dried at the fire were pounded in a mortar, 
after which it was ready for use. The whole party were 
hospitably entertained by him, and he took great interest in 
all that the white man told him, and gave him much infor- 
mation as to the Balonda and their habits in return. 
Speaking of Matiamvo, a powerful chief of the district, he 
said that so absolute was he, that when any of the mountain 
traders arrived, he would select a large portion of their 
goods, and hand over a number of his people, or even the 
inhabitants of an entire village, as payment. He was a man 
of violent temper, and appeared to have been really insane, 
as " he sometimes indulged in the whim of running a-muck 
in the town, and beheading whomsoever he met, until he 
had quite a heap of human heads." That these people have 
some notion of a future state is evident from the answer 
of an ambassador of Matiamvo when he was rebuked 
for his cruelty, and told that he would be judged in com- 
pany with those he destroyed. " We do not go up to God 
as you do ; we are put into the ground." 

Katema received the party seated on a sort of a throne, 
with about three hundred of his principal men round him, 
and thirty women said to be his wives, seated behind. The 
main body of the people were seated in a semi-circle about 
fifty yards distant. Intemese, the chief guide sent with 
Livingstone by Shinte, in a speech, gave the history of the 



RECEPTION BY KATE MA. 



103 



white man, his doings and intentions. Katema placed 
twelve large baskets of meal, half a dozen fowl, and a dozen 
eggs before them, telling them to "go home and cook and eat, 
and you will then be in a fit state to speak to me at an 
audience I will give you to-morrow." Katema was described 
by Livingstone as "a tall man, about forty years of age, 
and his head was ornamented with a helmet of beads and 
feathers. He had on a well worn snuff-brown coat, with a 
broad band of tinsel down the arms, and carried in his hand 
a large tail made of the caudal extremities of a number of 
gnus," which had charms attached to it. 

He had a great idea of his own importance, and did not 
fail to give Livingstone the benefit of it on the morrow. 
"I am the great Moene (lord) Katema, the father of 
Matiamvo. There is no one in this country equal to 
Matiamvo and me ; I have always lived here, and my fore- 
fathers too. There is the house in which my father lived. 
You found no human skulls near the place where you 
encamped. I never killed any of the traders, they all come 
to me. I am the great Moene Katema, of whom you have 
heard." 

Livingstone presented him with several small articles, 
apologising for the meagreness of his gift, and asking him 
what he should bring him from the coast, hinting that it 
might not be bulky. Everything (he said laughing) of the 
white people would be acceptable, and he would receive 
anything thankfully ; but the coat he had then on was old, 
and he would like another. 

Unlike the chiefs farther to the south, he had a herd ol 
cattle reared from two he had bought from the Balobale 
when he was young. They were fine animals, almost white, 
and as handsome and nearly as active as elands. As he did 
not milk them they were in a semi-wild state ; and when he 
wanted to kill one it had to be stalked and shot. 

Livingstone explained to him how to milk them. The 



104 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Balonda are remarkable for a formal etiquette which will 
not permit them to eat meat prepared by others, or to eat 
in the presence of strangers ; and when an inferior meets a 
superior he drops on his knees and puts handfuls of dust on 
his breast. He says in a letter : — " They are a friendly 
and industrious race, and thousands of the Balobale find an 
asylum among them from the slave-dealing propensities of 
their chiefs. They seem to possess a more vivid conviction 
of their relation to the unseen world than any of the southern 
tribes. In the deep dark forests near their villages we 
always met with idols and places of prayer. The latter are 
spots about four feet broad and forty long, kept carefully 
clear of vegetation and falling leaves. Here, in the still 
darkness of the forest night, the worshipper, either male or 
female, comes alone and prays to the gods (Barimo) or 
spirits of departed relatives, and when an answer to the 
petition seems granted, meal or other food is sprinkled on 
the spot as a thank-offering. 

" The inhabitants of the Balonda country belong to the 
true woolly-headed negro race, and differ remarkably from 
the Bechuanas and other tribes in the south in their treat- 
ment of females and in the practice of idolatry. They swear 
by their mothers, and never desert them; they allow the 
women a place and voice in their public assemblies, and 
frequently elevate them to the chieftainship. 

" The Bechuanas, on the contrary, swear by their fathers, 
glory in the little bit of beard which distinguishes them 
from the sex which they despise, and though they have 
some idea of a future state it exerts but little influence on 
their conduct. Their supreme God is a cow, and they never 
pray. 

"The Balonda extend to 7° south latitude, and their 
paramount chief is always named Matiamvo. There are 
many subordinate chiefs, all nearly independent. The Balo- 
bale possess the same character, but are more warlike, yet 



ATTACK FROM FEVER. 



no prudent white man would be in the least danger among 
them. It seems proper to refer to the Chiboque, Bashingo, 
and Bangala, who treated us more severely than any I had 
previously met with in Africa, Sometimes they levelled 
their guns at us, and it seemed as if we must fight to 
prevent entire plunder and reduction to slavery. But I 
thank God we did them no harm, and no one need fear 
vengeance on our account. A few more visits on this 
principle would render them as safe as all other tribes, con- 
concerning which it may confidently be stated, that if one 
behaves as a Christian and a gentleman he will invariably 
be treated as such. Contrary conduct will give rise to 
remarks and treatment of scorn." 

Here several of Livingstone's people suffered from fever, 
and he had another attack himself. These frequent seizures 
had reduced his strength, but had not impaired in the 
slightest degree that resolute and iron will which allowed 
nothing to interfere with the great end he had in view. 
Before he was quite recovered he was on the move again, 
accompanied by three guides given by Katema. While 
here and at Shinte's town they had wanted for nothing the 
people had to give, and they were able to return the com- 
pliment, as while there they killed an ox, a share of which 
was a great boon to people who seldom tasted flesh meat. 
The want of cattle throughout a district so admirably 
adapted for them, on account of the abundance of grass and 
water and its freedom from tsetse, struck him as singular. 

Pushing on through flooded plains and dank forests the 
party reached the narrow end of Lake Dilolo, which at its 
widest is about three miles broad, and is about seven miles 
long. Livingstone's weak state rendered it undesirable that 
he should examine it carefully, even although this only 
involved a few miles of travel The frequent attacks of 
fever from which he had suffered made him anxious to loiter 
as little by the way as possible. His passionate desire was 



io6 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



to reach the coast; and the only dread that seemed to 
possess him was, that he might succumb before accomplish- 
ing his purpose, in which case his long and toilsome jounvey 
would have been useless to mankind. On reaching the un- 
flooded higher lands beyond the plain Livingstone discovered 
to his joy and surprise that he now stood on an elevated 
plateau which formed the water-shed both of the northern 
and the southern rivers. The streams running north fell 
into the Kasai, or Loke, and those to the south united to 
form the Zambesi (under the names of the Leeba and the 
Leeambye), the upward course of whose waters he had 
followed with so much ease and comfort. Unwittingly he 
had also reached the western extremity of the water-shed of 
the great Lualaba, about which he had so much to tell us 
years afterwards. 

Here the valleys were deeper and more beautiful than 
any he had yet seen; their steep sides were seamed with 
water-courses ; and as each of these valleys was drained by 
a running stream, the growth of the trees was not impeded 
by the accumulation for months annually of stagnant water. 
Many of these trees grew to a great height— sixty and 
eighty feet of clean straight trunk ere the branches were 
reached being not uncommon. The ground underneath was 
covered with a luxuriant crop of green grass, through and 
over which beautiful flowers of all colours stood out, glad- 
dening the sight and perfuming the air. 

Turning westward through such scenery as this, Living- 
stone found himself among tribes who owed allegiance to 
Katema, and whose dealings with the Mambari had taught 
them to give nothing to strangers out of friendship. Gun- 
powder or calico was demanded for everything, and as he 
had none of these to spare, and as his last parcel of beads 
was about all he had to traffic with during the long and 
arduous journey still before him, he began to dread that the 
expedition was doomed to suffer more from hunger than it 



A GUIDE'S SUPPER. 



107 



had yet done. Kangenke, a chief whose village is near the 
Kasai, although not inclined to play the generous host, 
readily furnished guides, enabling the party to proceed at 
once. They crossed the Kasai in canoes, the men pointing 
out its course, saying, " Though you sail along it for months, 
you will turn without seeing the end of it." The Kasai and 
its tributaries unite and form the Congo, which falls into 
the Atlantic Ocean four degrees to the north of Loanda, 
whither the expedition was bound, so that its course was 
long enough to give these untravelled savages a high notion 
as to its unknown extent. Speaking of the stream where 
the party crossed it, Livingstone likens it to his native 
Clyde, which in its lower reaches above Glasgow is richly 
wooded. 

Food was now getting scarce, as none could be got unless 
in exchange for something out of their little store. One of 
the guides caught a blue mole and two mice, which he 
dressed for his supper, a distinct indication that larger game 
was scarce, or not to be had. Since his entrance into the 
country of Balonda the sight of herds of game, and even 
single individuals, had become few and far between, and 
these had become so shy from being hunted that there was 
no chance of getting within gun-shot of them without horses 
and other hunting appliances, which he had not got. The 
weakness caused by the frequent attacks of fever, and the 
bad setting of his shoulder, which had been shattered by 
the lion that attacked him at Chounane, left him hardly 
able to carry or hold his gun straight. Katende, a chief, 
sent a message to Livingstone that he must give him either 
a man, a tusk, beads, copper rings, or a shell, before he 
would be allowed to pass ; to which demand an explanation 
of his circumstances, and one of his remaining shirts, was 
sent, together with a message that if he liked he might 
come and take anything else, in which case he would reach 
his own chief naked, and have to account for it by telling 



io8 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



that Katende had taken them. The shirt was detained, 
and a little meal and manioc, and a fowl sent in exchange 
to the famishing band. 

They passed onward without seeing Katende, and reached 
a river with a wooden bridge across it, which Livingstone 
was surprised to find in the possession of a " pikeman " who 
demanded toll—a functionary he had not expected to meet 
with so far from the confines of civilisation. A payment of 
three copper bracelets secured the passage of the party. 
For days their route was across a country intersected by 
valleys, through each of which flowed a flooded stream more 
or less difficult to cross. In passing one of these Living- 
stone lost his hold of the tail of an ox, and swam unassisted 
to the other side, to the great joy of his men, who leaped 
into the water to save him. They had not known till then 
that he could swim, and expressed their satisfaction and 
contempt for future difficulties of a similar nature by saying, 
" We can all swim. Who carried the white man across the 
river but himself 1 " 

For several days he suffered severely from fever, being 
scarcely able to sit upon his ox, and when quite prostrate 
from its effects a mutiny arose among his men, who were 
dissatisfied on account of some presents he had made to his 
guides and chief men, who had become disheartened, and 
whose goodwill and courage were so necessary to the safety 
of the expedition. Having explained the matter to them, 
and promising to slay an ox at the next village they reached, 
he imagined that harmony was restored. Some time after, 
on recovering from a stupor induced by fever, he found 
matters in a worse state than ever. Feeling how necessary 
it was that order should be restored, he staggered from his 
bed armed with his double-barrelled pistol, and partly by 
threats and cajolery restored amity amongst them. Several 
days afterwards the exactions of the Chiboque and the 
dangers with which they were daily beset gapped the courage 

/ 



MUTINY AMONG THE PARTY, 



log 



of his men, and they demanded to be led back to their 
homes, as they saw no hope of being able to reach the coast. 
After using all his power of persuasion without avail, he 
announced his intention in the event of their deserting 
him of proceeding to his destination alone. This had the 
desired effect ; some of them made answer : " We will never 
leave you. Do not be disheartened. Wherever you lead 
we will follow. Our remarks were made only on account of 
the injustice of these people." 

Those who had accompanied him all the way said " they 
were all my children ; they knew no one but Sekeletu and 
me, and they would die for me." At every step of his 
journey we are called upon to admire the wisdom and 
courage of this heroic man, On many occasions the slightest 
indiscretion or rashness would have ruined the expedition by 
exciting the jealous and suspicious nature of those savage 
tribes; and when real danger threatened, his cool and 
resolute bearing — offering no violence, but shewing unmis- 
takably that if such were absolutely necessary it would be 
forthcoming — saved them frequently from plunder and a 
violent death. A man like this, who knows his own powers 
thoroughly, and possesses the unusual faculty of command- 
ing himself, his passions and feelings, in all cases, illustrates 
our highest idea of what "a leader of men" should be. 
To such men few undertakings, however dangerous, are 
impossible ; their courage and honesty conquer the stranger, 
while their followers cannot help imbibing these qualities to 
an extent which makes them capable of efforts they would 
have shrunk from under inferior guidance. 

The travellers passed rapidly over the remainder of their 
route to the Quango, avoiding villages, as the visiting of 
these only led to delays, no food being procurable without 
making sacrifices of their now scanty necessaries. On passing 
a village swarms of children would rush out and run for long 
distances alongside of them, viewing them with wonder. 



lie LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



They suffered greatly from hunger, but the near prospect of 
reaching Portuguese territory and finding friends kept them 
up, and induced them to strain every nerve to reach it as 
speedily as possible. 

On the 30th of March, when so weak from fever and 
hunger that he had to be led by his men to prevent his 
falling, Livingstone looked down from the high land upon a 
Galley about a hundred miles wide, through which the broad 
Quango wound its way to the north-west. This great val- 
ley is nearly covered with dark forest, excepting along the 
course of the river, which gleamed here and ther^ from the 
midst of the green meadows which extend a considerable 
way from its banks. On the further side lofty mountains 
rose indistinctly through the haze, while the high ground 
from which he viewed the magnificent scene was about a 
thousand feet above the level of the stream. Weary and 
worn with want and disease, one can readily imagine the 
feelings of this remarkable man as he surveyed the magnifi- 
cent valley spread out before him, and had his eyes refreshed 
and his spirit stirred by the sight of blue mountain summits, 
after hundreds of miles of travel through a country all but 
flat. Beyond that broad stream lay friendly territory ! A 
few days more of trial and difficulty and he would be among 
a people who would aid him in the completion of his great 
enterprise, and esteem it an honour to supply him with the 
comforts and necessaries of which he stood so much in 
need ! 

The chief of the Bashinje, a people on the east bank of 
the Quango, made himself as troublesome as possible, as 
Livingstone would neither give him a man nor one of the 
tusks belonging to Sekeletu. Everything they had pos- 
sessed, save the tusks and his instruments, was gone, and 
the clothes of the travellers were hanging about them in 
tatters. The chief, a young man of pleasing countenance, 
visited Livingstone, who shewed him his watch, which so 



THREATS OF THE CHIEFS, 



III 



excited his fear and wonder that he declined to see the magic- 
lantern and his pocket-compass. Hunger and the near 
prospect of succour had made the whole party determined 
to march on, even if they should have to cut their way 
through these unfriendly people. In answer to the threats 
and demands of the chief, he was told firmly that they 
«' should certainly go forward next day, and if he com- 
menced hostilities the blame before God would be his ; " 
and Livingstone's interpreter added of his own accord, 
11 How many white men have you killed in this path 1 " 
meaning, " You have never killed any white man, and you 
will find one more difficult to manage than you imagine." 

Arrived at the Quango, another Bashinje chief insisted 
upon having an ox, a man, or a gun, before he would permit 
them to be ferried across. Livingstone's men stripped off 
the last of their copper rings and gave them to him, but he 
still insisted upon a man. While in the midst of this 
difficulty a young half-caste Portuguese sergeant of militia, 
Cypriano di Abreu, who had crossed from the other side to 
purchase beeswax, made his appearance, and joined with 
Livingstone in inducing his men to go down to the river 
bank. There Cypriano succeeded in arranging matters with 
the ferryman, and to their great joy they found themselves in 
Portuguese territory. They passed with light hearts through 
the tall grass, which in the valley of the Quango is frequently 
over six feet in height. Three miles to the west of the 
river they came to several neat square houses, before which 
many cleanly looking half-caste militiamen, part of Oypriano's 
command, stood and saluted them. 

Livingstone's tent was pitched in front of Oypriano's 
dwelling, and in the morning his men were plentifully 
Bupplied with pumpkins and maize, while Livingstone was 
entertained to a breakfast in his dwelling of ground nuts, 
roasted maize, and boiled manioc roots, with guavas and 
honey as a dessert, <( I felt sincerely grateful," says Living- 



112 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



stone, "for such a breakfast." Several of Cypriano's 
friends joined them at dinner, before partaking of which 
each guest had water poured on his hands to wash them by 
a female slave. 

One of the guests cut up a fowl with a knife and fork, 
the only set in the house, so that they all partook of the 
fowl with their fingers, their hands being washed at the 
conclusion of the dinner as at the commencement. 

During the few days they remained with Cypriano he 
killed an ox for their entertainment, and stripped his garden 
of its produce to feed them ; nor did his kindness end here, 
as he furnished them with as much food as would serve 
them during the four or five days' journey to Oassange. 

As the party had crossed several streams, and had marched 
for miles among wet grass which grew two feet over their 
heads, they had a very forlorn appearance as they entered 
Cassange, the farthest Portuguese settlement, and presented 
themselves to the gaze of civilised men. The first gentle- 
man Livingstone met asked him for his passport, "and 
said it was necessary to take me before the authorities. As 
I was in the same state of mind in which individuals are 
who commit a petty depredation in order to obtain the 
shelter and food of a prison, I gladly accompanied him to 
the house of the commandant, Senor de Silva Pego. 
Having shewn my passport (letters of recommendation 
from the Chevalier Du Prat, of Cape Town) to the 
gentleman, he politely asked me to supper, and as 
we had eaten nothing except the farina of Cypriano, 
from the Quango to this, I suspect I appeared particularly 
ravenous to the other gentlemen around the table. " One 
can readily sympathise with him when he adds, "Had 
they not been present, I might have put some in my pocket 
to eat by night: for after fever the appetite is unusually 
keen, and manioc is one of the most unsatisfying kinds of 
food." One of the guests, Captain Antonio Rodrigues 



ARRIVAL AT CASSANGE, 



"3 



Neves, took the worn and exhausted traveller to his house 
with him, where he remained during his stay, and pre- 
sented him with a decent suit of clothing. This kindly 
man also furnished food for the famishing party. 

At Cassange the tusks belonging to Sekeletu were sold, 
and as two muskets, three small barrels of gunpowder, and 
English baize and calico sufficient to clothe the whole party, 
with several large bunches of beads, were received for one 
tusk, Livingstone's companions were quite delighted, as in 
their own country they only received one gun for two 
tusks. Another tusk was sold for calico, with which to pay 
their way to the coast, as it is the chief currency of the 
district, and the remaining two were sold for money to buy 
a horse for Sekeletu at Loanda. 

Livingstone was astonished to find that the traders at 
Cassange had an accurate knowledge of the country and 
the courses of the rivers far to the east, although this in« 
formation had never appeared on any European map. 

The commander handsomely sent a soldier with the party 
as a guide to Ambaca, entertained Livingstone to a fare- 
well dinner, and presented his companions with an ox to 
regale themselves with. The merchants accompanied him 
some distance in hammocks carried by slaves, and having 
given him letters of introduction to their friends in Loanda, 
they parted with mutual expressions of goodwill. Living- 
stone's guide was a man of colour, a native of Ambaca, and 
a full corporal in the militia. He was attended by three 
slaves, two of whom carried his hammock, in which he always 
reclined in state on entering and leaving a village ; the third 
slave carried a box which contained his dishes, clothing, 
and writing materials, for he could both read and write, as 
nearly all his brethren could. Although a pure native 
himself, when he lost his temper in dealing with any of his 
slaves he called him a " negro," as if he meant it as a term 
of reproach. 

8 



H4 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Crossing the high lands which bounded the Quango valley 
to the west, Livingstone found no difficulty in procuring 
abundance of food from the inhabitants of the numerous 
villages in exchange for pieces of calico and beads. The 
rains and night dews brought on another attack of fever, 
and a considerable portion of the journey was made in pain 
and misery. The skin of his body became abraded in 
various places, and his strong courage almost failed him 
even when the hour of his success was so near at hand. 

Arrived at Ambaca, Livingstone was hospitably enter- 
tained by the commandant, who recommended wine for his 
debility, and here he took the first glass of that beverage 
he had taken in Africa. "While sleeping in the house of the 
commandant he was bitten by an insect called the tampan, 
a kind of tick, varieties of which range in size from a pin's 
head to a pea. It invariably attacks the parts between the 
toes, sucking the blood till quite full. Its bite is poisonous, 
and causes a sensation of pain and itching, which passes up 
the limb until it reaches the abdomen, when it causes 
purging and retching. When these effects do not follow, 
fever often sets in, which frequently results in death. 
Before starting, the commandant gave them two militia 
soldiers as guides to replace their Cassange corporal, who 
left them here, and provided them with as much bread and 
meat as would serve them until they reached the next 
station. With characteristic liberality Livingstone tells 
us that the ability of so many of the people of Ambaca to 
read and write " is the fruit of the labours of the Jesuit 
and Capuchin missionaries, for they taught the people of 
Ambaca; and ever since the expulsion of the teachers by 
the Marquis of Pombal the natives have continued to teach 
each other. These devoted men are held in high estimation 
throughout the country to this day. All speak well of 
them, and now that they are gone from this lower sphere 
I could not help wishing that their own Roman Catholic 



FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE SEA, 



fellow Christiana had felt it their duty to give the people 
the Bible, to be a light to their feet when the good men 
themselves were gone," 

Nothing of note occurred during the remainder of the 
journey. The Portuguese, without exception, treated the 
party with the utmost consideration and kindness, which 
was all the more gratifying to him on account of his 
debilitated condition. Parties of Mambari were met who 
did not seem pleased at finding Makololo men so far from 
their native Zambesi, and so near a market where they 
would discover the true value of their elephants' tusks. 
They tried to induce them to return by repeating the 
legend that the white men lived in the sea, and that harm 
would happen to them. But Livingstone's companions were 
now proof against such fables, and although full of wonder 
and doubt as to the new world they were about to enter, 
and the treatment they might receive, they determined to 
stand by him to the last. 

On catching their first glimpse of the sea the astonish- 
ment of his companions was boundless. Speaking of their 
first sight of it on their return to their friends, they said : 
" We marched along with our father, believing that what 
the ancients had always told us was true, that the world had 
no end ; but all at once the world said to us, 1 1 am finished, 
there is no more of me.' " 

There was only one Englishman in Loanda — which had 
then a population of eleven thousand souls — Mr. Gabriel, 
the British commissioner for the suppression of the slave 
trade, and he gave his countryman a warm welcome. He 
had sent an invitation to meet him on the way from Cassange, 
whence intelligence of the arrival of an Englishman from 
the interior of Africa — a region from which no European 
had ever before come — had reached Loanda, but it had 
missed him on the way. After partaking of refreshments, 
and noticing how ill his guest looked, he conducted him to 



Ii6 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



bed. "Never shall I forget," says he, "the luxuiiant 
pleasure I enjoyed in feeling myself again on a good English 
couch after six months' sleeping on the ground. I was 
soon asleep, and Mr. Gabriel coming in almost immediately 
rejoiced at the soundness of my repose." 

The following extracts from a letter written by Dr. 
Livingstone give a graphic account of the countries and 
peoples he had visited in this famous journey :-— 

" The region traversed may be described as an extensive 
plain, intersected in every direction by large rivers, with 
their departing and re-entering branches. They bear on 
their bosoms volumes of water such as are totally unknown 
in the south, and never dry up as the Orange and most 
other African rivers do. They appear as possessing two 
beds, one of inundation and another cut out exactly like 
the Clyde above Bothwell Bridge. They overflow annually 
during the rainy season in the north, and then the beds of 
inundation, the haughs or holms, are all flooded, though, as 
in the Barotse valley, they may be more than twenty miles 
broad. The country over which the rivers never rise is 
nearly two hundred feet higher than the holms. 

" The country of the Balonda through which we passed 
was both fertile and beautiful. Dense forests alternate 
constantly with open valleys covered with grass resembling 
fine English meadows. The general surface, though flat, 
seems covered with waves disposed lengthways from N.N.E. 
to S.S.W. The crest of each of these earthern billows is 
covered with forest four or five miles broad, while the 
trough, about a mile wide, has generally a stream or bog in 
the centre, with the habitations and gardens of the inhabi- 
tants on the sides. The forests consist of lofty evergreen 
trees standing close together, and interlaced with great 
numbers of gigantic climbers. The trees, covered with 
lichens, and the ground with mosses and ferns, indicate a 
much more humid climate than is to be found in the south, 



A WELL-PEOPLED COUNTRY. 



117 



The only roads through these dense thickets are small 
winding footpaths ; and as an attempt to stop an ox suddenly 
only makes him rush on, we were frequently caught by the 
overhanging climbers, and came to the ground head-fore- 
most. On this account I never trusted to the watch alone 
for longitudes. 

"This country, as compared with that to the south, is 
well peopled. "We came to villages every few miles, and 
often passed as many as ten in a day. Some were extremely 
neat, others were so buried in a wilderness of weeds that, 
though sitting on the ox in the middle of the village, we 
could see only the tops of the houses. There is no lack of 
food, manioc or the tapioca plant is the staff of life, and 
requires but little labour for its cultivation. The seasons 
seem to allow of planting or reaping all the year round. 
The Balonda were all extremely kind, and indeed had they 
been otherwise we should have starved, for there is no 
game, and all the goods which I had brought from the Cape 
were expended before we started, excepting a few bead3. 

" When we came near to the Portuguese possessions the 
tribes altered very much for the worse, and the Chiboque 
so annoyed us by heavy fines levied on the most frivolous 
pretences that we changed our course from N.W. to N. 
This did not relieve us long, for when we came near 
Cassange we found our route obstructed by the M'bangala, 
who demanded payment of ' a man, an ox, or a gun,' for 
leave to pass at all. A refusal on our part was sometimei 
followed by a whole tribe surrounding us, brandishing their 
swords, arrows, and guns, and tumultuously vociferating 
their demands. The more we yielded the more unreason- 
able the mob became, till at last, in order not to aid in 
robbing ourselves, we ceased speaking, after telling them 
that they must strike the first blow. My men, who were 
inured to fighting by Sebituane, quickly surrounded the 
chief and councillors. These felt their danger, and speedily 



n8 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



became more amicable. They never disputed the proposi- 
tion that the ground they cultivated alone belonged to them, 
and all the rest of the country to God. This being the idea 
in the native mind, they readily admitted that they ha& no 
right to demand payment for treading on the soil of our 
common Father. But they pleaded custom ; ' slave-traders 
always gave them a slave.' My companions, being all free 
subjects of Sekeletu, had as good a right to give me as I 
had to give one of them, and the affair usually ended by 
our agreeing to give each other food in token of friendship. 
I had to part with an ox, and their part of the contract was 
sometimes fulfilled by sending us two or three pounds of the 
meat of our own animal, with many expressions of regret at 
having nothing else to give. It was impossible to avoid 
laughing at the coolness of the generous creatures. I had 
paid away my razors, shirts, and everything I could dispense 
with; but though I shewed these extortioners the instru- 
ments and all we had as being perfectly useless to them, 
the oxen, men, and guns still remained. ' You may as well 
give what we ask for, as we shall get the whole to-morrow 
after we have killed you,' or ' You must go back from whence 
you came, and say we sent you,' were some of the witticisms 
which, with hunger, were making us all sully and savage. 
If Sekeletu had allowed my companions to bring their shields, 
I could not have retained them; but we never came into actual 
collision, and as far as we were concerned the way is open for 
our journey. On the last occasion on which we parted with 
an ox objections were raised against one which had lost his 
tail, because they imagined a charm had been inserted in the 
stump which might injure them, and the remaining four still 
in our possession very soon exhibited the same peculiarity 
of their caudal extremities. Attempts have frequently been 
made by the Balonda and other distant tribes to open up 
commercial intercourse with the Portuguese, and these have 
always been rendered abortive by the borderers." 



THE MYSTERY SOLVED, 



119 



And now he had achieved his purpose : the mystery of 
South Africa was solved. Instead of being a vast barren 
desert he had found it to be a populous and fertile region, 
watered by splendid streams, navigable for hundreds of 
miles, abounding in animal life of all kinds, and inhabited 
by tribes capable of benefiting from the civilising and 
humanising influences of honest commerce and the teaching 
of the GospeL What are the triumphs of arms compared 
with the great work this heroic man had achieved ? On 
these vast fertile plains there is room for millions of human 
beings living peaceful and industrious lives. Is it too much 
to hope that within a period not very remote the tribes of 
South and Central Africa will have become all that he 
believes them capable of becoming, and that they will hold 
in reverence the name and memory of the undaunted 
Englishman who first introduced them and their country to 
the knowledge of the civilised world \ 

Livingstone and his party started from Linyanti on the 
11th of November 1853, and reached Loanda on the 31st of 
May 1854, the journey thus occupying something more than 
six months, during which period none of his friends, either 
savage or civilised, heard anything of him. He had disap- 
peared into the wilderness, and like many more daring 
spirits, it was supposed that he had fallen a victim to the 
climate or the cruelty of some savage chief. Not the least 
remarkable fact connected with his journey was, that he had 
not lost a man in the long and toilsome journey, and as we 
shall see he was equally fortunate in returning. 



CHAPTER VII. 



STAY AT L0ANDA— STARTS ON RETURN JOURNEY — DR. LIVING- 
STONE AGAIN STRUCK DOWN WITH FEVER — ARRIVAL AT 
LINYANTI. 

S LIVINGSTONE'S illness was of so serious a 
nature as to require a considerable period of 
rest and treatment, he remained at the house 
of Mr. Gabriel, where he was treated with 
every kindness and attention; nor was the comfort and 
wellbeing of his attendants forgotten. Mr. Gabriel pre- 
sented them with red caps and striped cotton jackets, in 
which costume they were presented by Dr. Livingstone to 
the bishop, who was acting as provisional Governor. The 
bishop, who took a warm interest in Livingstone and his 
attendants, offered the latter a free passage to Loanda as 
soon as they might wish to return. Two British ships of 
war, engaged in the suppression of the slave trade, having 
come into the harbour, their commanders, Captain Skene 
and Commander Bedingfield, invited the party to visit their 
ships. Nearly the whole of them went, although filled with 
misgivings as to what might befall them. The kindness of 
the sailors, who gave them a share of their dinners, put 
them at their ease. The firing of a cannon gave them a 
high idea of the power and the determination of the country- 
men of Livingstone in their endeavour to put down the 
slavery. The size of the ship filled them with amazement. 
"It is not a canoe, it is a town," they said of the brig of 
war ; " and what sort of town is this which you must climb 
up into with a rope ? " 
Through the intelligent kindness o£ the authorities and 




STARTS ON RETURN JOURNEY. 121 



merchants at Loanda, the expedition left that place hand- 
somely provided with comforts and necessities. The autho- 
rities sent a colonel's uniform and a horse for Sekeletu, 
and gave suits of clothing to all the men. The public 
subscription among the merchants provided two donkeys, 
in the hope of introducing the ass into districts where its 
insensibility to the poison of the tsetse would make it 
invaluable as a beast of burden. His man-of-war friends 
provided Livingstone with a good new tent, manufactured 
by the crew of the Philomel. Livingstone provided each 
man with a musket, and procured a good stock of ammuni- 
tion, beads, and cotton cloth. They set out on the 20th of 
September 1854, having remained at Loanda nearly four 
months. Their baggage was as heavy as it was valuable ; 
and they were much beholden to the bishop, who furnished 
them with twenty carriers, to assist them to the nearest 
station, and ordered the commandants of the districts they 
had to pass through to give Livingstone and his party all 
needful help. 

The hard dry ground tried the feet of his attendants 
severely ; and on account of this, and an attack of malaria, 
from which several of them suffered, their progress was slow. 
Towards the middle of December they reached the estate of 
Colonel Pires, which is situated to the south of the Lucalla, 
one of the tributaries of the Coanza, in the district of 
Pungo Andongo, where he learned to his great sorrow and 
regret that the Forerunner was lost, and that his despatches, 
journals, and maps had gone to the bottom with her. It 
was matter for congratulation to him that his friend 
Captain Bedingfield was among the saved; and with 
characteristic energy he set to work, while under the hospit- 
able roof of Colonel Pires, to re-write his journal. Colonel 
Pires had two estates, and was the most energetic and 
successful planter of the district. His slaves in conse 
quence of being so well treated might readily, from their 



122 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



zeal and efficient service, have been taken for free servants. 
Through his exertions the district has become the garden of 
Angola, producing abundant crops of figs, grapes, wheat, 
butter, cheese, &c. 

Crossing the Ooanza and several of its tributaries, they 
reached Tala Mungongo, where they made a short stay, and 
suffered from a plague of red ants, which were so numerous 
and so formidable that slaves were obliged to sit up all 
night burning fires of straw round the slaughtered carcase 
of a cow, otherwise the insects would have devoured it. 
These march in a compact band, several inches wide, and 
attack man and every animal crossing their track with 
determined pugnacity. The stinging pain caused by their 
bites is compared by Livingstone to that produced by 
sparks of fire falling upon the bare skin. They perform 
considerable service in devouring any carrion they come 
across, and by eating the white ants, rats and mice, small 
snakes, and even the large pythons, when they find them in 
a state of surfeit. They do not form hills like the white 
ants, but construct their nests in burrows at some distance 
from the surface of the ground. 

At Oassange he was again hospitably entertained by 
Captain Neves ; and during his short stay he finished the 
re-writing of his journal, and to his great joy received a 
packet of the " Times " newspaper, which gave him, among 
other news, "an account of the Russian war up to the 
terrible charge of the light brigade. The intense anxiety I 
felt to hear more may be imagined by every true patriot ; 
but I was forced to live on in silent thought, and utter my 
poor prayers for friends who, perchance, were now no more, 
until I reached the other side of the continent." When he 
next came within reach of news from home, the Russian 
war was ended, and the Indian mutiny was the absorbing 
topic of interest and anxiety among his countrymen. This 
complete isolation from all news from the civilised quarters 



CROSSING THE QUANGO. 



123 



of the world was not the least of the trials to which his 
adventurous career exposed him. 

But for the prevalence of fever, which perhaps improved 
cultivation might tend to diminish, Livingstone speaks of 
Angola as being " in every other respect an agreeable land, 
and admirably adapted for yielding a rich abundance of 
tropical produce for the rest of the world." He further 
says that, "had it been in the possession of England, it 
would now have been yielding as much or more of the raw 
materials of her manufactures as an equal extent of terri- 
tory in the cotton-growing states of America. A railway 
from Loanda to this valley (the Quango) would receive the 
trade of most of the interior of South Central Africa." 
Livingstone's men, during their passage through Angola, 
collected better breeds of fowls and pigeons than those in 
their own country. The native tribes of Angola are very 
superstitious; and notwithstanding the vigilance of the 
Portuguese government, practise many of their inhuman 
rites, notably the ordeal for witchcraft, which consists in 
the accused party drinking the sap of a poisonous tree, a 
test which very frequently proves fatal. 

After partaking of the hospitality of their good friends 
in Portuguese territory, they bade adieu to civilised society, 
and crossed the Quango, reducing the ferryman's charge 
from thirty yards of calico to six, their more prosperous 
appearance and better armament having its effect in ex- 
pediting their progress where they had previously suffered 
so much. Sleeping on the damp ground during the incessant 
rains brought on a severe attack of rheumatic fever, which 
delayed his journey for twenty days, as the faithful Mako- 
lolo would not stir during his weak state. Petty chiefs 
endeavoured to extract handsome presents for permission to 
pass through their small territories, but experience had 
taught the explorer to set them at defiance, the wisdom of 
which course was shewn when the party were attacked in a 



124 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



forest by a chief and his braves, whom they confronted so 
resolutely as to make them glad to be permitted to depart 
with whole skins. 

As the Makololo suffered from sickness, their progress 
was slow, about two-thirds of their time being taken up 
with stoppages to recruit or to collect provisions. Making 
a detour to the south the party came in contact with 
several tribes who had not been contaminated by connection 
with slave traders ; and amongst these they procured abun- 
dance of food on reasonable terms. The men were great 
dandies, the oil dripping from their hair on to their shoul- 
ders, until every article of clothing was saturated with it. 
These tribes amused themselves with various kinds of musi- 
cal instruments of most primitive manufacture, and never 
went out save armed to the teeth; their guns and bows 
were ornamented with strips of the hides of the various 
animals they had shot. Their women tended pet lap-dogs 
with as much care as their civilised sisters, with a better 
excuse for their peculiar taste in pets, as these were fattened 
for eating. Flesh meat was so scarce with them that they 
were always pleased to give something in return for the 
smallest piece of ox flesh. Rats, mice, lizards, and birds, 
especially the latter, were so diligently hunted and trapped 
for food, that they were seldom seen. Parasitic plants were 
so plentiful, that in many places a man had to precede 
the party in the forests armed with a hatchet to cut a 
passage. The luggage on the backs of the oxen was fre- 
quently entangled by them and thrown to the ground, the 
same fate frequently overtaking the leader of the party 
himself. Provisions were exceedingly cheap, a fowl and 
twenty pounds of manioc meal costing a yard of calico, worth 
threepence. From the Quango valley the party had been 
accompanied by Paseval and Favia, two half-caste slave 
traders. It was instructive to notice that they could not 
carry on their peculiar traffic without paying heavy black- 



CHAGRIN OF THE FERRYMEN, 



mail in the shape of presents to every petty chief whose 
village they visited ; nor could they trust their native 
bearers, who seemed to consider it the right thing to 
plunder them on all occasions. They were compelled to 
wink at these irregularities, as the safety of their mer- 
chandise was entirely in their hands. 

Kawawa, a Balonda chief, being baulked in his endeavours 
to extract black-mail from the party, sent forward four of 
his men to the ferry across the Kasai, wi:h instructions to 
the ferrymen that they should not be carried across the 
stream, which was about a hundred yards broad and very 
deep, unless they got a man, an ox, a gun, and a robe. At 
night Pitsane, who had seen where the canoes were hidden 
among the reeds on the opposite side of the stream, secured 
a canoe, in which they all passed safely across, to the 
chagrin of the ferrymen and Kawawa ; s messengers, vrh - 
could hardly guess how they managed to cross, as the canoes 
were all safe on their side of the stream. Pitsane had 
replaced the canoe after it had done its work, and swam 
across to join his comrades, some beads being left in it as 
payment for a small quantity of meal got from the ferrymen 
on the previous day. In their mortification at being so 
completely worsted, Kawawa's people shouted across to 
them, " Ah, you are bad ! " to which the Makololo returned 
for answer, "Ah, you are good ! and we thank you for the 
loan of your canoe." 

The country before them might now be considered as 
friendly territory in which the simple inhabitants could be 
trusted to assist them in their onward progress, and whose 
generous kindness would render less serious the exhausted 
condition of their stores of baggage and ornaments, which 
had disappeared through the exactions of the unfriendly 
chiefs and tribes whose territory they had passed through 
since crossing the Quango, and the payment for provisions 
during the long delays caused by the ill health of the party. 



126 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



The goods and ornaments the Makololo had received in 
presents, or had purchased out of their earnings at Loanda, 
had nearly all gone, together with the iron they had pur- 
chased for Sekeletu. 

The open plains of the Balonda country were compara- 
tively clear of water, save in low-lying spots, and as the 
vegetation was less dense than they had found it further to 
the east, their progress was more easy. Animal life became 
more abundant as they proceeded, giving cheering token of 
the land of plenty to which they were approaching — vultures 
sailed overhead ; swifts and several varieties of swallows 
flitted about ; wild ducks and other water-fowl were seen in 
considerable numbers in the neighbourhood of the streams 
and pools ; small herds of the larger game, rendered very 
shy in consequence of being regularly hunted by the natives, 
were frequently seen; and jet black larks made the air 
musical with their song in the early mornings. The plain 
was radiant with flowers ; one Livingstone specially noticed, 
which grows in such numbers as to give its hue to the 
ground. The variety of colour of this flower was remark' 
able. A broad band of yellow on being closely examined 
would resolve itself into individual flowers, exhibiting every 
variety of colour from the palest lemon to the richest orange. 
A hundred yards of this rich carpeting would be succeeded 
by another broad band of the same flower of a blue colour, 
made up of every variation of that tint from the lightest to 
the darkest blue, and even purple. The colour of the birds 
was as variable in this and other districts as that of the 
flowers. 

On the second day's journey from the Kasai, Livingstone 
suffered from his twenty-seventh attack of fever ; and after 
an exhausting journey he reached Lake Dilolo. " The sight 
of the blue waters," he tells us, " and the waves lashing the 
shore, had a most soothing influence on the mind, after so 
much of lifeless flat and gloomy forest. The heart yearned 



AT SHINTES TOWN. 



127 



for the vivid impressions which are always created by the 
sight of the broad expanse of the grand old ocean." Living- 
stone's old friend, Katema, entertained the party most 
hospitably, presenting them with a cow and abundance of 
meal. According to promise, Livingstone presented him 
with a cloak of red baize, a cotton robe, a quantity of beads, 
an iron spoon, and a tin pannikin containing a quarter of a 
pound of powder. Katema had come from his hunting 
ground to meet the party, to which he returned after his 
interview with Livingstone, leaving instructions with his 
headmen to attend to their wants and provide them with a 
guide to the Leeba. 

At Shinte's town the party were most hospitably enter- 
tained by that intelligent chief ; and Nyamoana, his sister, 
who had changed the site of her village in consequence of 
the death of her husband, treated him with every kindness, 
and gave them the loan of five small canoes in which to 
proceed down the Leeba. Livingstone's companions also 
bought several light sharp-pro wed canoes for hunting 
animals in the water. Manenko was unable to visit the 
party in consequence of a burn in the foot, but her husband, 
Sambanza, came instead, and as an earnest of goodwill 
performed the ceremony called hasendi — Pitsane and Sam- 
banza being the parties engaged. The hands of the parties 
were joined, and small incisions sufficient to cause bleeding 
made in the hands, on the pits of the stomachs, the right 
cheeks, and the foreheads. Drop3 of blood were conveyed 
from the wounds of each on a stalk of grass and dipped in 
beer — the one drinking the beer mixed with the other's 
blood. During the drinking of the beer members of the 
party beat the ground with clubs and muttered sentences 
by way of ratifying the treaty. This ceremony constitutes 
the parties engaged in it blood relations, each being bound 
to warn the other of impending evil, even if it involved the 
disclosure of aji intended attack on the tribe of the other by 



128 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



his own chief. After the ceremony they exchanged presents 
— Pitsane getting an abundant supply of food and two 
shells, and Sambanza receiving Pitsane's suit of green baize, 
faced with red. 

Below the confluence of the Leeba and the Leeambye the 
party met some native hunters well provided with the dried 
flesh of the hippopotamus, buffalo, and the crocodile. Here 
Livingstone had a narrow escape from a bull buffalo, which 
charged him at full speed. In rounding a bush the animal 
exposed his shoulder, into which he sent a bullet. "The 
pain must have made him renounce his purpose, for he 
bounded past me into the water, where he was found dead." 

At Libonta they were received with every demonstration 
of joy and thankfulness for their return. For months they 
had been given up as dead; such a scene of kissing and 
hand-shaking ensued as made Livingstone glad when they 
were all quietly seated in the kotla to hear the report of 
their adventures. He wisely declined to be the spokesman 
of the party himself, but Pitsane enlarged for a whole hour 
on the wonders they had seen and the adventures they had 
come through. The members of the party had with par- 
donable vanity throughout all their trials preserved a suit 
of white European clothing, with red caps, and these were 
donned for the occasion, and excited the admiration of their 
friends. Next day they had two religious services in the 
kotla, where Livingstone " addressed them all on the good- 
ness of God in preserving us from all the dangers of strange 
tribes and disease." The men presented them with two fine 
oxen, and the women brought abundance of milk, meal, 
and butter. They explained the total expenditure of their 
means in the return journey as a reason for their giving 
nothing in return; and the good Libontese answered, "It 
does not matter; you have opened a path for us, and we 
shall have sleep (peace)." 

All the way down the Barotse valley they were received 



ARRIVAL AT LINY A NTT. 



129 



with the same enthusiasm, and as generously treated. At 
Chitlane's village they were invited to collect a colony of 
yonubi linkololo, a long-legged bird about the size of a crow, 
which breeds among the reeds on the banks of the Leeambye. 
They secured a hundred and seventy-six of them, and when 
roasted they made capital eating. All along their route it 
was a continuous feast of joy — the donors partaking with 
the party of the meats they furnished. 

Afc Sesheke Livingstone found several packages sent up 
the river to him by Dr. Moffat, whose long and fatiguing 
journey in search of him, already briefly related, will be 
found fully described further on. In these, which had been 
carefully kept by the Makololo in a hut on an island in the 
river, as they feared witchcraft on the part of the Matabeles 
(their enemies) who had brought them, he found English 
newspapers and magazines, and some preserved eatables. 
Amongst other information the papers contained was the 
explanation by Sir Roderick Murchison, after a study of 
Mr. Barnes' geological map, and discoveries made by Living- 
stone and Mr. Oswell, of the peculiar conformation of the 
continent of Central Africa. Speaking of this wonderful 
prediction of the physical characteristics of a country of 
which Sir Roderick had no knowledge save that supplied by 
induction, Livingstone says : — " There was not much use in 
nursing my chagrin at being thus fairly cut out by the man 
who had foretold the existence of Australian gold before its 
discovery, for here it was in black and white. In his easy- 
chair he had forestalled me by three years, though I had 
been working hard through jungle, marsh, and fever since 
the light dawned in my mind at Dilolo. I had been cherish- 
ing the pleasing delusion that I should be the first to suggest 
the idea that the interior of Africa was a watery plateau of 
less elevation than flanking hill ranges." 

Arriving at Linyanti in September, Livingstone found 
his waggon and goods standing where he had left them 

9 



LIFE OF DAVID LI VI A GSTONE, LL.D. 



more than twelve months before. Not an article had been 
touched, although they all possessed great value in the eyes 
of the Makololo. Chief and people were loud in their demon- 
strations of joy at the unlooked-for return of the wanderers. 
A great meeting was held to receive their report and the 
presents sent from the Governor and merchants of Loanda. 
The wonderful story of their adventures lost nothing in the 
telling at the hands of the Makololo who had accompanied 
him, and the presents sent to the chief filled them with un- 
bounded admiration. Sekeletu was proud of his colonel's 
uniform, and when he donned it at the first religious service 
held after their arrival, his splendid suit attracted more 
attention than the sermon. The two donkeys were greatly 
admired, as they promised to be the parents of a flock of 
domestic animals of great value. They had borne the long 
journey with that patient and untiring endurance so charac 
teristic of their species, and took very kindly to the abundant 
vegetation of their new home. 

For a great part of the journeys now so happily closed, 
Dr. Livingstone, on account of his weakness, rode on ox- 
back. The back of an ox is a very uneasy seat, and slow 
and sedate as the animal usually appears, he can be skittish 
and mischievous enough. Sinbad, Dr. Livingstone's ox, 
was not by any means free from the vices of his kind. 
" He had," he says, " a softer back than others, but a much 
more intractable temper. His horns were bent downwards, 
and hung loosely, so he could do no harm with them ; but 
as we wended our way slowly along the narrow path, he 
would suddenly dart aside. A string tied to a stick put 
through the cartilage of the nose serves instead of a bridle, 
but if you jerk this back it makes him run faster on ; if 
you pull it to one side he allows his head and nose to go, 
but keeps the opposite eye directed to the forbidden spot, 
and goes in spite of you. The only way he can be brought 
to a stand is by a stroke with a wand across the nose. 



ARRIVAL AT LIXYAXTI. 



When Sinbad ran in below a climber stretched over the 
path, so low that I could not stoop nnder it, I was dragged 
off and came down on the crown of my head j and he never 
allowed an oppominity of the kind to pass without trying 
to inflict a kick, as if I neither had nor deserved his love." 

Having been so long separated from his family, and 
having come through so many trials and difliculties, which 
left him feverish and enfeebled, no one would have blamed 
him if he had harnassed his oxen to his waggon and de- 
parted for Kuruman or the Cape, to rest and recruit befora 
attempting another journey. But this was not in accord- 
ance with Livingstone's sense of duty. His popularity 
gave him hopes of being able to make an impression on the 
Makololo by his religious teaching ; and their kindness and 
their confidence in him made him desirous of serving them 
in other ways. The road to Loanda was long and difficult; 
and so much of it passed over land inhabited by unfriendly 
tribes, that he felt this wa3 not the proper outlet for the 
merchandise of Central Africa. Por months his mind had 
wandered down the course of the great Zambesi to the 
easb coast ; and the more he thought over the matter the 
more he became convinced that that was the proper route, 
and that it was his duty to settle the point without delay. 

He was all but destitute, and was indebted to the faithful 
Makololo for everything he required while amongst them ; 
and he could not carry out his intention of passing to the 
coast without their aid in men, oxen, and material. ZSor 
were these wanting. Explaining to Sekeletu the method 
of preparing sugar, the latter asked him if he could pur- 
chase a mill for him at the east coast. On his replying that 
he had nothing with which to buy a mill, Sekeletu and his 
councillors said, " The ivory is all your own ; if you leave 
any in the country it will be your own fault." Sekeletu 
then gave him an order for a sugar mill, 11 and for all the 
varieties of clothing he had ever seen, and especially a 



132 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Mohair coat, a good rifle, beads, brass wire, &c, and any other 
beautiful thing you may see in your own country." 

As he had found the two horses left with him when 
Livingstone started for Loanda of great use, especially in 
hunting, he was anxious to have more ; and these Living- 
stone expected to be able to get for him at the nearest 
Portuguese settlements. 

" I return," he says, " because I feel that the work to 
which I set myself is only half accomplished. The way to 
the eastern coast may be less difficult than I have found 
that to the west. If I succeed, we shall afc least have a 
choice. I intend, God helping me, to go down the Zambesi 
or Leeambye to Killimane. I know not whether I shall 
reach it. I mean to try. I may — in order to avoid the 
falls of Mosioatunya and the rapid and rocky river above 
that part — go across from Sesheke to the Mauniche-Loeuge 
or river of the Bashokolompo, and then descend it to the 
Zambesi. If I cannot succeed I shall return to Loanda, 
and thence embark for England." 




CHAPTER VIII. 



STARTS FOR THE EAST COAST — THE VICTORIA FALLS — THE 

BATOKA TRIBES REACHES ZUMBO DEPARTURE FOR 

ENGLAND — ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. 

N the 3rd of November 1855, Livingstone and 
his fellow-adventurers, accompanied by Seke- 
letu with two hundred of his followers, who 
were to accompany them as far as Kalai, on 
the Leeambye, started from Linyanti. The whole party 
were fed at Sekeletu's expense — the cattle for the purpose 
being taken from his cattle stations, which are spread over 
the whole territory owning him allegiance. Passing through 
a tsetse district when dark, to escape its attacks, they were 
overtaken by a tremendous storm of thunder, lightning, and 
rain, which thoroughly drenched the party. Livingstone's 
extra clothing having gone on, he was looking forward 
ruefully to the prospect of passing the night on the wet 
ground, when Sekeletu gave him his blanket, lying un- 
covered himself. He says : " I was much touched by this 
little act of genuine kindness. If such men must perish by 
the advance of civilisation, as certain races of animals do 
before others, it is a pity. God grant that ere this time 
comes they may receive that gospel which is a solace for the 
soul in death ! " 

Writing to Sir Roderick Murchison about this touch- 
ing incident, and the general kindness of Sekeletu, he 
uses words which, at the risk of repetition, are worth 
quoting: — "When passing Sheseke on our way down the 
river in November last, Sekeletu generously presented ten 
slaughter-cattle and three of the best riding oxen he could 




134 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



purchase among his people, together with supplies of meal 
and everything else he could think of for my comfort during 
the journey. Hoes and beads were also supplied to purchase 
a canoe, when we should come to the Zambesi again, beyond 
the part where it is constricted by the rocks. These acts of 
kindness were probably in part prompted by the principal 
men of the tribe, and are valuable as shewing the light in 
which our efforts are viewed ; but as little acts often shew 
character more clearly than great ones, I may mention that 
— having been obliged to separate from the people who had 
our luggage, and to traverse about twenty miles infested by 
the tsetse during the night — it became so pitchy dark, we 
could only see by the frequent gleams of lightning, which 
at times revealed the attendants wandering hither and 
thither in the forest. The horses trembled and groaned, 
and after being thoroughly drenched by heavy rain we were 
obliged to give up the attempt to go farther, and crawled 
under a tree for shelter. After the excessive heat of the 
day one is peculiarly sensitive to cold at night. The chief's 
blanket had fortunately not gone on ; he covered me with 
it, and rested himself on the cold wet ground until the 
morning. If such men must perish before the white race 
by an immutable law of heaven, we must seem to be under 
the same sort of ' terrible necessity ' in our * Kaffre wars ' 
as the American professor of chemistry said he was when he 
dismembered the man whom he murdered." 

On the island of Kalai they found the grave of Sekote, a 
Batoka chief, who had been conquered by Sebituane, and 
had retreated to this place, where he died. The ground 
near the grave was garnished by human skulls, mounted on 
poles, and a large heap of the crania of hippopotami — the 
tusks being placed on one side. The grave was ornamented 
with seventy large elephants' tusks, planted round it with 
the points inwards, forming an ivory canopy; and thirty 
more were placed over the graves of his relatives. As they 



THE VICTORIA FALLS. 



155 



neared the point from which the party intended to strike off 
to the north-east from the river, Livingstone determined to 
visit the falls of Mosioatunya, known as the falls of Victoria 
since his visit. He had often heard of these falls from the 
Makololo. Xone of them had visited them, but many of 
them had been near enough to hear the roar of the waters 
and see the cloud of spray which hangs over them. The 
literal meaning of the Makololo name for them is, " smoke 
does sound there/' or "sounding smoke." 

He visited them twice on this occasion, the last time 
along with Sekeletu, whose curiosity had been aroused by 
his description of their magnificence. Just where the 
sounding smoke of which Sebituane and the Makololo had 
told him rises up for several hundred feet into the sky, and 
is visible for over twenty miles — a spectacle of ever chang- 
ing form and colour — the mighty stream nearly a mile in 
width plunges in a clear and unbroken mass into a rent in 
the basaltic rock which forms the bed of the river and the 
low hills which bound the river in front and on either side for 
a considerable distance of its course. This chasm is from 
eighty to a hundred feet in width, and of unknown depth, 
the thundering roar of the falling waters being heard for a 
distance of many miles. The throbbing of the solid ground, 
caused by the immense weight and force of the falling water 
is felt at a great distance from the tremendous chasm in 
which the great river is engulfed. 

After a descent of several yards the hitherto unbroken 
mass of water presents the appearance of drifted snow, from 
which jets of every form leap out upon the opposite side of 
the chasm. For about a hundred feet its descent can be 
traced to where it reaches the seething surface of the water 
below, from which it arises in jets of water like steam. A 
dense smoke-cloud of spray which, descending on all sides 
like rain, wets the onlooker to the skin, maintains a con- 
stant green verdure within the reach of its influence. The 



136 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



depth of the narrow chasm which draws off such a vast 
volume of water must be great. At one place it has been 
plumbed to a depth of more than twice that of the pool into 
which the St. Lawrence falls at Niagara. The great smoke 
clouds are formed by five distinct columns of spray, which 
ascend from the gulf to a height of from two to three 
hundred feet. Three of these columns — two on the right 
and one on the left of Garden Island, which overlook the 
falls, appeared to Livingstone to contain as much water in 
each as there is in the Clyde at the fall of Stonebyres 
during a flood. The waters are drained off near the eastern 
end of the falls by a prolongation of the rocky chasm, 
which pursues its way with little variation as to breadth 
in a zigzag course through the mass of low hills for 
over thirty miles, when the tormented waters break into 
the plain and spread out to their former width, to be here 
and there narrowed by the several rapids which interrupt 
its navigation, in some cases even to the light canoes of the 
bold and skilful Makalaka and Batoka men. 

The following is Dr. Livingstone's account of the Victoria 
Falls, as furnished to Sir Roderick Murchison : — 

" Our convoy down to Mosioatunya consisted of the chief 
and about two hundred followers. About ten miles below 
the confluence of the Chobe and Leeambye, or Zambesi, we 
came to the commencement of the rapids. Leaving the 
canoes there,, we marched on foot about twenty miles further 
along the left or northern bank to Kalai, otherwise called 
the island of Sekote. It was decided by those who knew 
the country well in front that we should here leave the 
river, and avoid the hills through which it flows, both on 
account of tsetse and the extreme ruggedness of the path. 
By taking a north-east course the river would be met where 
it has become placid again. Before leaving this part of tho 
river I took a canoe at Kalai, and sailed down to look at 
the falls of Mosioatunya, which proved to be the finest 



THE VICTORIA FALLS. 



137 



sight I have seen in Africa. The distance to the ^moke- 
sounding ' falls of the Zambesi was about eight miles in a 
S.S.E. direction, but when we came within five miles of the 
spot we saw five large columns of 1 smoke ' ascending two 
hundred or three hundred feet, and exhibiting exactly the 
appearance which occurs on extensive grass-burnings in 
Africa. The river above the falls is very broad, but I am 
such a miserable judge of distances on water that I fear to 
estimate its breadth. I once shewed a naval officer a space 
in the bay of Loanda which seemed of equal breadth with 
parts of the river which A have always called four hundred 
yards. He replied, ' That ; 6 nine hundred yards.' Here I 
think I am safe in saying 1 is at least a thousand yards 
You cannot imagine the g"' }rious loveliness of the scene 
from anything in England. The 1 falls,' if we may so term 
a river leaping into a sort of strait-jacket, are bounded on 
three sides by forest-covered ridges about four hundred feet 
in height Numerous islands are dotted over the river 
above the falls, and both banks and islands are adorned 
with sylvan vegetations of great variety of colour and form. 

"At the period of our visit many of the trees were 
spangled over with blossoms, and towering above them all 
stands the great burly baobab, each of whose (syemite- 
coloured) arms would form the bole of a large ordinary tree. 
Groups of graceful palms, with their feathery-formed foliage, 
contribute to the beauty of the islands. As a hieroglyphic, 
they always mean 1 far from home ; 1 for one can never get 
over their foreign aspect in picture or landscape. Trees of 
the oak-shape and other familiar forms stand side by side 
with the silvery Mohonono, which in the tropics looks like 
the cedar of Lebanon. The dark cypress-shaped Motsouri, 
laden with its pleasant scarlet fruit, and many others, also 
attain individuality among the great rounded masses of 
tropical forest. We look and look again, and hope that 
scenes lovely enough to arrest the gaze of angels may never 



138 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



vanish from the memory. A light canoe, and men well 
acquainted with the still waters caused by the islands, 
brought us to an islet situated in the middle of the river, 
and forming the edge of the lip over which the water rolls. 
Creeping to the verge, we peer down into a large rent which 
has been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambesi, 
and there we see the stream of a thousand yards in breadth 
suddenly compressed into a channel of fifteen or twenty. 
Imagine the Thames flanked with low tree-covered hills 
from the tunnel to Gravesend, its bed of hard basaltic rock 
instead of London mud, and a rent or fissure made in the 
bed from one end of the tunnel to the other, down through 
the keystones of the arch to a depth of one hundred feet, 
the lips of the fissure being from sixty to eighty feet apart. 
Suppose farther the narrow rent prolonged from the tunnel 
to Gravesend along the left bank, and the Thames leaping 
bodily into this gulf, compressed into fifteen or twenty 
yards at the bottom, forced to change its direction from the 
right to the left bank, then turning a corner and boiling 
and roaring through the hills, and you may conceive some- 
thing similar to this part of the Zambesi. 

"In former days the three principal falls were used as 
places where certain chiefs worshipped the Barimo (gods or 
departed spirits). As even at low water there are from 
four hundred to six hundred yards of water pouring over, 
the constancy and loudness of the sound may have produced 
feelings of awe, as if the never-ceasing flood came forth 
from the footstool of the Eternal. It was mysterious to 
them, for one of their canoe songs says — 

' The Leeambye — nobody knows ^ 
Whence it comes or whither it goes.' 

"Perhaps the bow in the cloud reminded them of Him 
who alone is unchangeable and above all changing things. 
But not aware of His true character, they had no admira- 
tion of the beautiful and good in their bosoms. Secure in 



THE VICTORIA FALLS. 



139 



their own island fortresses they often inveigled wandering 
or fugitive tribes on to others which are uninhabited, and 
left them there to perish. The river is so broad that, when 
being ferried across, you often cannot see whether you are 
going to the mainland or not. To remove temptation out 
of the way of our friends, we drew the borrowed canoes last 
night into our midst on the island where we slept, and some 
of the men made their beds in them. 

" Before concluding this account of the falls, it may be 
added that the rent is reported to be much deeper further 
down, perhaps two hundred or three hundred feet ; and at 
one part the slope downward allows of persons descending 
in a sitting posture. Some Makololo, once chasing fugitives, 
saw them unable to restrain their night, and dashed to pieces 
at the bottom. They say that the river appeared as a white 
cord at the bottom of an abyss, which made them giddy and 
fain to leave. Yet I could not detect any evidence of wear 
at the spot which was examined, though it was low water, 
and from seven to ten feet of yellow discolouration on the 
rock shewed the probable amount of rise. I have been led 
to the supposition by the phenomena noticed by both Captain 
Tuckey and Commander Bedingfield in the Congo or Zaire, 
that it as well as the Orange River seems to be discharged 
by a fissure through the western ridge. The breadth of the 
channel among the hills, where Captain Tuckey turned, will 
scarcely account for the enormous body of water which 
appears farther down. Indeed, no sounding can be taken 
with ordinary lines near the mouth, though the water runs 
strong and is perfectly fresh. 

" On the day following my first visit I returned to take 
another glance and make a little nursery garden on the 
island, for I observed that it was covered with trees, many 
of which I have seen nowhere else ; and as the wind often 
wafted a little condensed vapour over the whole, it struck 
me this was the very thing I could never get my Makololo 



I4Q LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



friends to do. My trees have always perished by being for- 
gotten during droughts, so I planted here a lot of peach 
and apricot stones and coffee-seed. A3 this island is unap- 
proachable when the river rises, except by hippopotami, if 
my hedge is made according to contract, I have great hopes 
of Mosioatunya's ability as a nurseryman. On another 
island close by your address of 1852 remained a whole year. 
If you had been a lawyer instead of a geologist your claims 
to the discovery would have been strong, as c a bit of your 
mind' was within sight and sound of the falls very long 
before the arrival of any European.* I thank you for 
sending it." 

Taking leave of Sekeletu and his followers the party 
pushed northwards through the Batoka country. This 
powerful and numerous tribe had been conquered and 
decimated by Sebituane and the Matabele until vast tracts 
of fruitful hill and plain, in which the larger game abounded, 
were almost devoid of human life. The Batoka people are 
of a low type, and are of a cruel and vindictive disposition, 
evil qualities, probably fostered by the wars they have been 
forced to wage against more powerful tribes. They have a 
barbarous habit of knocking out the front teeth of the upper 
jaw, which gives to their face a hideous expression. They ex- 
plained that they did this in order to look like oxen, and not 
like the zebras, as they hold the latter animals in detestation. 

In the valley of the Lekone, a considerable river which 
falls into the Zambesi below the falls, they rested a day at 
the village of Moyara, whose father had been a powerful 
chief, with many followers and large herds of cattle and 
goats. His son lives among the ruins of his town with 
five wives and a handful of people, while the remains of his 

* Sir Roderick's address was contained in the packages sent by Dr. 
Moffat from Moselekatse's country, all of which Livingstone found 
carefully preserved on an island in the Zambesi on his return from the 
west coast. 



SHOOTING A BUFFALO, 



141 



warlike and more powerful father are buried in the middle 
of his hut, covered with a heap of rotting ivory. Bleached 
skulls of lEatabele, evidences of his power and cruelty, were 
stuck on poles about the village. The degraded condition of 
the Batoka among the more powerful tribes was exemplified 
by the fact that a number of them were introduced into his 
party by Sekeletu to carry his tusks to the nearest Portu- 
guese settlement. 

The open plains and the short grass and firm ground 
made travelling a luxury compared with their experiences in 
going to the west coast, and the party marched on in the 
highest spirits. Fruit trees, yielding edible fruit, were 
abundant ; several of them were similar to those they had 
seen on the coast near Loanda. Buffaloes, antelopes, 
elephants, zebras, and lions and other felines abounded in 
the district crossed by them during the early part of their 
journey. In consequence of being little disturbed the 
larger game were very tame. Livingstone shot a buffalo 
among a herd. When wounded the others tried to gore it 
to death. This herd was led by a female, and he remarks 
that this is often the case with the larger game, as the leader 
is not followed on account of its strength, but its wariness 
and its faculty of discerning danger. The cow buffalo- 
leader, when she passed the party at the head of the herd, 
had a number of buffalo birds seated upon her withers. By 
following the honey-birds his attendants procured abundance 
of honey, which formed an agreeable addition to their 
meals. 

The ruins of many towns were passed, proving the density 
of the population before the invasion of the country by 
Sebituane, and his being driven out of it by the Matabele and 
other rival tribes. At the Biver Dila they saw the spot where 
Sebituane had lived. The Makololo had never ceased to 
regret their enforced departure from this healthy, beautiful, 
and fertile region ; and Sekwebu had been instructed by 



142 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Sekeletu to point out to Livingstone its advantages as a 
position for their future headquarters. Beyond the Dila 
they reached a tribe hostile to the Makololo, but although 
they assumed a threatening attitude, the party, owing to 
Livingstone's courage and firmness, passed through unharmed. 
Save on this occasion the Batoka were most friendly, great 
numbers of them coming from a distance with presents of 
maize and fruit, and expressing their great joy at the first 
appearance of a white man amongst them. The women 
clothe themselves much as the Makololo women do, but the 
men go about in puris naturalibus, and appeared to be quite 
insensible to shame. The country got more populous the 
farther east they advanced, but the curiosity and kindness of 
the people fell off as they proceeded. Food was abundant ; 
the masuka tree was plentiful, and its fruit was so thickly 
strewn about the ground that his men gathered and ate it as 
they marched. Everywhere among these unsophisticated 
sons of nature, who had all they wished for in their genial 
climate — plentiful herds and abundant crops of maize and 
fruit — the cry was for peace. Before the advent of Sebituane 
the country had been swept by a powerful chief named 
Pingola, who made war from a mere love of conquest, and 
the memory of their sufferings had entered deeply into their 
hearts. A sister of Monze, the head chief of the tribes in 
the district they were now traversing, in expressing her joy 
at the prospect of being at peace, said, " It would be so 
pleasant to sleep without dreaming of any one pursuing 
them with a spear." 

Monze visited the party wrapped in a large cloth, and 
rolled in the dust, slapping the outside of his thighs with 
his hands — a species of salutation Livingstone had a strong 
repugnance to, especially when performed by naked men, 
but no expression of his feelings tended to put a stop to it. 
Monze gave them a goat and a fowl, and a piece of the flesh 
of a buffalo which had been killed by him, and was greatly 



SKETCH OF THE COUNTRY. 



143 



pleased with a present of some handkerchiefs. The head 
men of the neighbouring villages also visited them, each of 
them provided with presents of maize, ground nuts, and 
corn. Some of these villagers had the hair of their heads 
all gathered in a mass, and woven into a cone from four to 
eight inches in width at the base, ending in a point more or 
less prolonged. 

Livingstone's own sketch of the country, and the 
mode of travel, &c, in one of his letters, merits a place 
here : — 

"When we ascended the Zambesi, towards Kabompo, in 
January 1854, the annual flood which causes inundation 
had begun, and with the exception of sand, which was 
immediately deposited at the bottom of the vessel, there 
was no discolouration. Ranges of hills stand on both 
banks as far as we have yet seen it. The usual mode of 
travelling is by canoe, so there are generally no paths, and 
nothing can exceed the tedium of winding along through 
tangled jungle without something of the sort. We cannot 
make more than two miles an hour ; our oxen are all dead 
of tsetse, except two, and the only riding ox is so weak from 
the same cause as to be useless. Yet we are more healthy 
than in the journey to Loanda. The banks feel hot and 
steamy both night and day, but I have had no attack of 
fever through the whole journey. I attribute this partly to 
not having been 'too old to learn,' and partly to having 
had wheaten bread all the way from the waggon at Linyanti. 
In going north we braved the rains, unless they were con- 
tinuous, and the lower half of the body was wetted two or 
three times every day by crossing streams. But now, when 
rain approaches we halt, light large fires, and each gets up 
a little grass shed over him. Tropical rains run through 
everything, but, though wetted, comparatively little caloric 
is lost now to what would be the case if a stream of water 
ran for an hour along the body. After being warmed by 



144 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



the fire all go on comfortably again, and the party has been 
remarkably healthy. In the other journey too, wishing to 
avoid overloading the men, and thereby making them lose 
heart, I depended chiefly on native food, which is almost 
pure starch, and the complete change of diet must have 
made me more susceptible of fever. But now, by an ex- 
temporaneous oven, formed by inverting a pot over hot 
coals, and making a fire above it, with fresh bread and 
coffee in Arab fashion, I get on most comfortably. There 
is no tiring of it. I mention this because it may prove a 
useful hint to travellers who may think they will gain by 
braving hunger and wet." 

As buffaloes and elephants were plentiful, one was now 
and again shot, so that the party seldom wanted flesh meat. 
A party of his men on one occasion slaughtered a female 
elephant and her calf with their spears, native fashion. 
The mother had much the appearance of a huge porcupine, 
from the number of spears sticking into her flesh when she 
fell exhausted by the loss of blood. This was a needlessly 
cruel method of recruiting their stores of food, and Living- 
stone did not encourage it, although he found shooting the 
larger game for food both trying and hazardous, as he could 
make little use of the arm which had been fractured by the 
lion when among the Bakwains. His skill was very much 
impaired, and was provokingly enough at its lowest ebb 
when meat was most wanted. 

"I never before saw," he says in one of his letters, 
" elephants so numerous or so tame as at the confluence of 
the Kafue and Zambesi. Buffaloes, zebras, pigs, and hip- 
popotami were equally so, and it seemed as if we had got 
back to the time when megatherise roamed about undis- 
turbed by man. "We had to shout to them to get out of the 
way, and then their second thoughts were — ' It's a trick.' 
' We're surrounded ' — and back they came, tearing through 
our long-extended line. Lions and hysenas are so numerous 



TAMENESS OF ANIMALS. 



145 



that all the huts in the gardens are built on trees, and the 
people never go half-a-mile into the woods alone." 

They had now got into a district where rains were fre- 
quent, and so much had they been spoiled by the beautiful 
dry weather and fine open country they had passed through, 
that at first, as he has told us above, they invariably stopped 
and took shelter when it fell. 

It was on the 18th December they reached the Kafue, 
the largest tributary of the Zambesi they had yet seen. It 
was about two hundred yards broad, and full of hippo- 
potami. Here they reached the village of Semalembue, 
who made them a present of thirty baskets of meal and 
maize, and a large quantity of ground nuts. On Dr. 
Livingstone explaining that he had little to give in return 
for the chief's handsome gift, he accepted his apologies 
politely, saying that he knew there were no goods in the 
country from which he had come. He professed great joy 
at the words of peace which Livingstone addressed to him, 
and said, "Xow I shall cultivate largely, in the hope of 
eating and sleeping in peace." The preaching of the Gospel 
amongst these people gave them the idea of living at peace 
with one another as one of its effects. It was not necessary 
to explain to them the existence of a Deity. Sekwebu 
pointed out a district, two-and-a-half days' distance, where 
there is a hot fountain which emits steam, where Sebituane 
had at one time dwelt. " There," said he, " had Sebituane 
been alive, he would have brought you to lire with him. 
You would be on the bank of the river, and by taking 
canoes you would at once sail down to the Zambesi, and 
visit the white people at the sea." 

Every village they passed furnished two guides, who con- 
ducted them by the easiest paths to the next. Along the 
course of the Zambesi, in this district, the people are great 
agriculturists — men, women, and children were all very 
busily at work in their gardens. The men are strong and 

10 



146 ZIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



robust, with hands hardened by toil. The women disfigure 
themselves by piercing the upper lip and inserting a shell. 
This fashion universally prevails among the Maran, which 
is the name of the people. The head-men of the villages 
presented the party freely with food, and one of them gave 
Livingstone a basinful of rice, the first he had seen for a 
long time. He said he knew it was white man's meal, and 
refused to sell a quantity unless for a man. Strange that 
his first introduction to one of the products of civilisation 
in this, to him, new region should be simultaneous with the 
appearance of a hateful commerce, fostered by a race holding 
themselves so much superior to the savage tribes of the 
interior through which they had passed, who held it in 
abhorrence. 

Beyond the river they came upon the ruins of stone 
houses, which were simply constructed, but beautifully 
situated on the hill-sides commanding a view of the river. 
These had been the residences of Portuguese traders in 
ivory and slaves when Zumbo, which they were now 
approaching, had been a place of considerable importance as 
a Portuguese trade settlement. Passing Zumbo, they slept 
opposite the island of Shotanaga in the Zambesi, and were 
surprised by a visit from a native, with a hat and jacket on, 
from the island. He was quite black, and had come from 
the Portuguese settlement of Tete, which they now learned 
to their chagrin was on the other side of the stream. This 
was all the more awkwa«rd, as he informed them that the 
people of the settlement had been fighting with the natives 
for two years. Mpende, a powerful chief who lived farther 
down the river, had determined that no white man should 
pass him. All this made them anxious to cross to the 
other bank of the river, but none of the chiefs whose villages 
lay between their present position and Mpende's town, 
although in every other way most friendly, dared to ferry 
them across, in dread of offending that powerful chief. 



A POWERFUL CHIEF. 



147 



All but unarmed as they were, and dependent upon the 
kindness of the people through whose country they were 
passing, their progress being retarded by the feebleness of 
their tsetse-hitten oxen, there was no help for it but to 
proceed, and trust to Providence for the reception they 
might receive from the dreaded chief who was at war with 
the Portuguese in their front. Trusting in the purity of 
his motives, and that dauntless courage, tempered with 
discretion, which had never deserted him, Livingstone passed 
on, the fear of what awaited him in front not preventing 
him from admiring the beauty of the country, and its 
capability under better circumstances of maintaining a vast 
population in peace and plenty. Nearing Mpende's village, 
where a conical hill, higher than any he had yet seen, and 
wooded heights and green fertile valleys commanded his 
admiration, he all but forgot the danger of his situation, 
until forcibly reminded of it by the arrival of a formidable 
number of Mpende's people at his encampment, uttering 
strange cries, waving some red substance towards them, and 
lighting a fire on which they placed chains — a token of war 
— after which they departed to some distance, where armed 
men had been collecting ever since daybreak. 

Pearing a skirmish, Livingstone slaughtered an ox, 
according to the custom of Sebituane, with the view of 
raising the courage of his men by a plentiful meal. Although 
only half-armed, in rags, and suffering from their march, 
yet inured as they were to fatigue, and feeling a confidence 
in their superiority over the Zambesi men, notwithstanding 
all drawbacks in comfort and circumstances, Livingstone 
had little fear of the result if fight he must ; but in accord- 
ance with his constant policy he was bound to accomplish 
his object in peace, if that were possible. His men were 
elated at the prospect of a fight, and looked forward to 
victory as certain, and the possession of corn and clothes in 
plenty, and of captives to carry their tusks and baggage for 



i 4 8 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



them. As they waited and ate their meat by their camp- 
fire, they said, "You have seen us with elephants, but you 
don't know yet what we can do with men." 

By the time breakfast was despatched, Mpende's whole 
tribe was assembled at about half-a-mile distant from their 
encampment ; spies, who refused to answer any questions, 
advanced from among the trees which hid the position of 
the main body, and came up to the encampment of the party. 
To two of these Livingstone handed the leg of an ox, 
desiring them to carry it to Mpende. This brought a visit 
from two old men, who asked Livingstone who he was. 
"I am a Lekoa" (Englishman) he replied. "We don't 
know the tribe," they said ; " we suppose you are Mozanga 
(Portuguese), with whom we have been fighting." As the 
Portuguese they knew were half-castes, Livingstone bared 
his bosom and asked if they had hair and skin like his. 
" No," they replied, " we never saw skin so white as that. 
Ah ! you must be one of that tribe that loves the black 
man." 

Through the intercession of one of these men, Sindese 
Galea, the head-man of a neighbouring village, Mpende, 
after a long discussion with his councillors, was induced to 
believe Livingstone's account of himself and his intentions, 
and to treat him and his party with great generosity and 
kindness. Sekwebu was sent to the chief with a request 
that he might buy a canoe to convey one of his men who 
was ill. Mpende said, " That white man is truly one of our 
friends. See how he lets me know his afflictions." " Ah ! " 
said Sekwebu, " if you only knew him as well as we do who 
have lived with him, you would understand that he highly 
values your friendship and that of Mburuma, and as he is a 
stranger he trusts in you to direct him." He replied, 
" Well, he ought to cross to the other side of the river, for 
this bank is hilly and rough, and the way to Tete is longer 
on this than on the opposite bank." "But who will take 



UNDERGROUND RIVERS. 



149 



us across if you do not?" " Truly," replied Mpende, "I 
only wish you had come sooner to tell me about him ; but 
you shall cross." And cross they did, leaving the place in 
very different spirits from those with which they had 
approached it. 

A little way down the river they arrived opposite an island 
belonging to a chief called Mozinkwa; here they were 
detained by heavy rains and the illness of one of the Batoka 
men, who died. He had required to be carried by his 
fellows for several days, and when his case became hopeless 
they wanted to leave him alone to die, but to such an 
inhuman proposal Livingstone could not of course give his 
consent. Here one of the Batoka men deserted openly to 
Mozinkwa, stating as his reason that the Makololo had 
killed both his father and his mother, and that he would 
not remain any longer with them. 

Towards the end of January they were again on their 
way ; and early in February, as his men were almost in a 
state of nudity, Livingstone gave two tusks for some calico, 
marked Lawrence Mills, Lowell, U.S. The clayey soil and 
the sand-filled rivulets made their progress slow and difficult. 
The sand rivers are water-courses in sandy bottoms, which 
are full during the rainy seasons and dry at other times, 
although on dieting a few feet into the bed of the stream 

O CO o 

water is found percolating on a stratum of clay. " This," 
Livingstone says, " is the phenomenon which is dignified by 
the name of rivers flowing underground." In trying to ford 
one of these sand rivers — the Zingesi — in flood, he says : 
" I felt thousands of particles of coarse sand striking my 
legs, and the slight disturbance of our footsteps caused deep 
holes to be made in the bed. The water . . . dug out 
the sand beneath the feet in a second or two, and we were all 
sinking by that means so deep that we were glad to relinquish 
the attempt to ford it before we got half way over ; the oxen 
were carried away down to the Zambesi. These sand rivers 



ISO LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



remove vast masses of disintegrated rock before it is fine 
enough to form soil. The man who preceded me was only 
thigh-deep, but the disturbance caused by his feet made it 
breast-deep for me. The stream of particles of gravel which 
struck against my legs gave me the idea that the amount of 
matter removed by every freshet must be very great. In 
most rivers where much wearing is going on a person diving 
to the bottom may hear literally thousands of stones knocking 
against each other. This attrition, being carried on for 
hundreds of miles in different rivers, must have an effect 
greater than if all the pestles and mortar mills of the world 
were grinding and wearing away the rocks." 

At the village of a chief called Monina, Monahin, one of 
Livingstone's men, disappeared through the night. As he 
had been ill for some time, and had complained of his head, 
Livingstone imagined that he had wandered In an insane 
state, and been picked up by a lion. They prowled about 
the native settlements at night with great boldness, making 
it dangerous for any one to be about after dark. He had 
proved very valuable to Livingstone, and he felt his loss 
greatly. The general name of the people of this district is 
Banyai ; they are ruled over by several chiefs, the govern- 
ment being a sort of feudal republican. The people of a 
tribe, on the death of their chief, have the privilege of elect- 
ing any one, even from another tribe, to be his successor, if 
they are not satisfied with any of the members of his family. 
The sons of the chiefs are not eligible for election among the 
Banyai. The various chiefs of the Banyai acknowledge 
allegiance to a head-chief. At the time of Livingstone's 
visit, this supreme position was held by a chief called 
Nyatewe. This custom appears to 'prevail in South and 
Central Africa, and if the chief who wields supreme power 
is a wise and prudent ruler, the result is highly beneficial. 

Among the Banyai the women are treated with great 
respect, the husband doing nothing that his wife disapproves. 



BARBAROUS CUSTOM. 



Notwithstanding this, a barbarous custom prevails amongst 
them if a husband suspects his wife of witchcraft or infi- 
delity. A witch-doctor is called, who prepares the infusion 
of a plant named goho, which the suspected party drinks, 
holding up her hand to heaven in attestation of her innocence. 
If the infusion causes vomiting she is declared innocent, but 
if it causes purging she is held to be guilty, and burned to 
death. In many cases the drinking of the infusion causes 
death. This custom prevails, with modifications, amongst 
most of the tribes of Central Africa, and is found as far 
west as Ambaca. When a Banyai marries, so many head 
of cattle or goats are given to the parents, and unless the 
wife is bought in this way the husband must enter the 
household of his father-in-law and do menial offices, the wife 
and her family having exclusive control of the children. 
The Banyai men are a fine race, but the superior courage 
and skill Livingstone's men displayed in hunting won 
the hearts of the women; but none of them would be 
tempted into matrimony where it involved subjection to 
their wives. 

Within eight miles of Tete Livingstone was so fatigued 
as to be unable to go on, but sent some of his men with his 
letters of recommendation to the commandant. About two 
o'clock on the morning of the 3rd of March the encampment 
was aroused by the arrival of two officers and a company of 
soldiers, sent with a supply of provisions for the party by 
the commandant. As Livingstone and his men had been 
compelled for several days to live on roots and honey, their 
arrival was most timely. He says : " It was the most re- 
freshing breakfast I ever partook of, and I walked the last 
eight miles without the least feeling of weariness, although 
the path was so rough that one of the officers remarked to 
me, 'This is enough to tear a man's life out of him.' The 
pleasure experienced in partaking of that breakfast was only 
equalled by the enjoyment of Mr. Gabriel's bed when I 



152 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



arrived at Loanda. It was also enhanced by the news that 
Sebastopol had fallen, and the war was finished." 

Major Sicard, the Portuguese commandant at Tete, treated 
Livingstone and his men with the greatest generosity. He 
clothed himself and his men, and provided them with food 
and lodgings, declining to receive several tusks which were 
offered in compensation. As the most of his men were to 
be left here, Major Sicard gave them a portion of land on 
which to cultivate their own food, and permission to hunt 
elephants — the money they made from the tusks and dried 
meat to be used for the purchase of articles to take to 
Sekeletu on their return. 

As Livingstone was in a very emaciated state, and fever 
was raging at Kilimane, the point on the coast to which he 
was bound, he was induced to remain at Tete for a month, 
during which time he occupied himself by making several 
journeys in the neighbourhood, visiting a coalfield, &c, &c. 
The village of Tete he found to consist of a large number of 
wattle-and-daub native huts, with about thirty European 
houses built of stone. The place had declined greatly in 
importance through the introduction of the slave trade. In 
former times considerable quantities of wheat, maize, millet, 
coffee, sugar, oil, indigo, gold dust, and ivory were exported, 
and as labour was both abundant and cheap the trade was 
profitable. Livingstone says : " When the slave trade began 
it seemed to many of the merchants a more speedy mode of 
becoming rich to sell off the slaves than to pursue the slow 
mode of gold-washing and agriculture, and they continued 
to export them until they had neither hands to labour nor 
to fight for them. . . . The coffee and sugar plantations 
and gold-washings were abandoned because the labour had 
been exported to the Brazils." 

In consequence of a sudden change of temperature, Major 
Sicard and Livingstone, and nearly every person in the 
house, suffered from an attack of fever. Livingstone soon 



STARTS FOR KILIMANE. 



153 



recovered, and was unremitting in his attention to the 
others. His stock of quinine becoming exhausted, his atten- 
tion was drawn by the Portuguese to a tree called by the 
natives kumbanzo, the bark of which is an admirable sub- 
stitute. He says : " There was little of it to be found at 
Tete, while forests of it are at Senna and near the delta of 
Kilimane. It seems quite a providential arrangement that 
the remedy for fever should be found in the greatest abun- 
dance where it is most needed. . . . The thick soft bark of 
the root is the part used by the natives ; the Portuguese use 
that of the tree itself. I immediately began to use a de- 
coction of the bark of the root, and my men found it so 
efficacious that they collected small quantities of it for 
themselves, and kept it in little bags for future use." 

On the 22nd of April Livingstone started on his voyage 
down the river to Kilimane, having selected sixteen men 
from among his party who could manage canoes. Many 
more wished to accompany him, but as there was a famine 
at Kilimane in consequence of a failure of the crops, during 
which thousands of slaves were dying of hunger, he could 
take no more than was absolutely necessary. The com- 
mandant sent Lieutenant Miranda with Livingstone to 
convey him to the coast. At Senna, where they stopped, 
they found a more complete ruin and prostration than at 
Tete. Por fifteen miles from the head of the delta of the 
Zambesi, the Mutu, which is the head-waters of the Kili- 
mane river, and was then erroneously supposed to be the 
only outlet to the Zambesi, was not navigable, and the party 
had to walk under the hot sun. This, together with the 
fatigue, brought on a severe attack of fever, from which 
Livingstone suffered greatly. At Interra, where the Pan- 
gaze, a considerable river, falls into the Muto, navigation 
became practicable. The party were hospitably entertained 
by Senhor Asevedo, " a man who is well known by all who 
ever visited Kilimane, and who was presented with a gold 



154 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



chronometer watch by the Admiralty for his attentions to 
English officers." He gave the party the use of his sailing 
launch for the remainder of the journey, which came to its 
conclusion at Kilimane on the 20th of May 1856, "which 
wanted (Livingstone says) only a few days of being four 
years since I started from Cape Town." At Kilimane 
Colonel Galdino Jose Nunes received him into his house, 
and treated him with marked hospitality. For three years 
he had never heard from his family direct, as none of the 
letters sent had reached him. He had now the gratification 
of receiving a letter from Admiral Trotter, " conveying in- 
formation of their welfare, and some newspapers, which 
were a treat indeed. Her Majesty's brig, the Frolic, had 
called to inquire for me in the November previous, and 
Captain Nolloth of that ship had most considerately left a 
case of wine, and his surgeon, Dr. James Walsh, divining 
what I should need most, left an ounce of quinine. These 
gifts made my heart overflow. . . . But my joy on reach- 
ing the coast was sadly embittered by the news that Com- 
mander McLune, of Her Majesty's brigantine Dart, in 
coming into Kilimane to pick me up had, with Lieutenant 
Woodruffe and five men, been lost on the bar. I never felt 
more poignant sorrow. It seemed as if it would have been 
easier for me to have died for them than that they should 
all have been cut off from the joys of life in generously 
attempting to render me a service." In speaking of the 
many kind attentions he received while at Kilimane, he 
says : " One of the discoveries I have made is that there are 
vast numbers of good people in the world ; and I do most 
devoutly tender my unfeigned thanks to that gracious One 
who mercifully watched over me in every position, and 
influenced the hearts of both black and white to regard me 
with favour." 

Ten of the smaller tusks belonging to Sekeletu were sold 
to purchase calico and brass wire for the use of his attendants 



ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 



155 



at Tete, the remaining twenty being left with Colonel 
Nunes, with orders to sell them and give the proceeds 
to them in the event of his death or failure to return to 
Africa. Livingstone explained all this to the Makololo who 
had accompanied him to Kilimane, when they answered, 
" Nay, father, you will not die ; you will return to take us 
back to Sekeletu." Their mutual confidence was perfect ; 
they promised to remain at Tete until he returned to them, 
and he assured them that nothing but death would prevent 
his rejoining them. The kindness and generosity of the 
Portuguese merchants and officers have already been alluded 
to ; a continuance of the same was promised to his men 
during his absence, and it was understood that the young 
King of Portugal, Don Pedro, as soon as he heard of their 
being in his territory, sent orders that they should be main- 
tained at the public expense of the province and Mozam- 
bique until Livingstone should return to claim them. 

After waiting about six weeks at Kilimane the Frolic 
arrived, bringing abundant supplies for all his needs, and 
£150 to pay his passage home from the agent of the London 
Missionary Society at the Cape. The admiral at the Cape 
sent an offer of a free passage to the Mauritius, which 
Livingstone gladly accepted. As six of the eight of his 
attendants who had accompanied him to Kilimane had, by 
his instructions, gone back to Tete to await his return, 
while the other eight who had accompanied him as far as the 
delta of the Zambesi had also returned, only two were left 
with him when the Frolic arrived. 

At the Mauritius Livingstone was hospitably enter- 
tained by Major-General C. M. Hay, and was induced to 
remain some time there to recruit his shattered health. On 
the 12th of December 1856 he arrived in England after an 
absence of seventeen years, the Peninsular and Oriental 
Steam Company generously refunding his passage-money 
when made aware of the distinguished personage they had 



156 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



had the honour of carrying. On the day preceding his 
arrival the "Times" informed the country that : — "The 
Rev. Dr. Livingstone arrived at Marseilles from Tunis on 
the 6th inst., and was then in good health; his left arm is 
however broken, and partly useless, it having been torn by 
a lion. When he was taken on board the Frolic on the 
Mozambique coast he had great difficulty in speaking a word 
of English, having disused it so long while travelling in 
Africa. He had with him a native from the interior of 
Africa. This man, when he got to the Mauritius, was so 
excited with the steamers and various wonders of civilisation, 
that he went mad, and jumped into the sea and was drowned. 
Dr. Livingstone had been absent from England seventeen 
years. He crossed the great African continent almost in 
the centre, from west to east, has been where no civilised 
being has ever been before, and has made many notable 
discoveries of great value. He travelled in the twofold 
character of missionary and physician, having obtained a 
medical diploma. He is rather a short man, with a pleasant 
and serious countenance, which betokens the most determined 
resolution. He continued to wear the cap which he wore 
while performing his wonderful travels. On board the 
Candia, in which he voyaged from Alexandria to Tunis, he 
was remarkable for his modesty and unassuming manners. 
He never spoke of his travels except in answer to questions. 
The injury to his arm was sustained in the desert while 
travelling with a friendly tribe of Africans. A herd of 
lions broke into their camp at night and carried off some of 
their cattle. The natives, in their alarm, believed that a 
neighbouring tribe had bewitched them. Livingstone 
taunted them with suffering their losses through cowardice, 
and they then turned to face and hunt down the enemy. 
The doctor shot a lion, which dropped wounded. It after- 
wards sprang on him, and caught him by the arm, and after 
wounding two natives who drew it off him, it fell down 



ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 



157 



dead. The wounded arm was not set properly, and Dr. 
Livingstone suffered excruciating agony in consequence." 

In England curiosity had been excited by the appearance 
of short paragraphs in the newspapers treating of his dis- 
coveries, but it was not until a meeting of the Royal 
Geographical Society, on which occasion the society's gold 
medal was presented to the distinguished traveller, that the 
magnitude of his discoveries and the heroic character of the 
man came to be properly understood. 

It was on the 15th of December 1856 that the special 
meeting of the Royal Geographical Society was held to 
receive and do honour to Dr. Livingstone. Dr. Livingstone, 
in his reply to the president, Sir R. Murchison, who made 
the presentation, said : — " Sir, I have spoken so little in my 
own tongue for the last sixteen years, and so much in 
strange languages, that you must kindly bear with my 
imperfections in the way of speech-making. I beg to 
return my warmest thanks for the distinguished honour you 
have now conferred upon me, and also for the kind and 
encouraging expressions with which the gift of the gold 
medal has been accompanied. As a Christian missionary I 
only did my duty in attempting to open up part of Southern 
inter-tropical Africa to the sympathy of Christendom ; and 
I am very much gratified by finding in the interest which 
you and many others express a pledge that the true negro 
family, whose country I traversed, will yet become a part 
of the general community of nations. The English Govern- 
ment and the English people have done more for Central 
Africa than any other, in the way of suppressing that 
traffic which has proved a blight to both commerce and 
friendly intercourse. May I hope that the path which I 
have lately opened into the interior may never be shut; 
and that in addition to the repression of the slave trade 
there will be fresh efforts made for the development of the 
internal resources of the country 1 Success in this, and the 



158 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



spread of Christianity, alone will render the present success 
of our cruisers in repression complete and permanent. I 
cannot pretend to a single note of triumph. A man may 
boast when he is pulling off his armour, but I am just 
putting mine on ; and while feeling deeply grateful for the 
high opinion you have formed of me, I fear that you have 
rated me above my deserts, and that my future may not 
come up to the expectation of the present." 

Next day the London Missionary Society honoured him 
with a public reception, and in the evening he was enter- 
tained by them at dinner. A great meeting was held at 
the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor in the chair, for the 
purpose of raising a fund towards presenting a testimonial 
to Dr. Livingstone. Upwards of .£450 was subscribed in the 
room, and soon after was raised to a thousand guineas. In 
Scotland a special Livingstone Testimonial Fund was 
instituted, and £1000 collected. The Universities of Ox- 
ford and Cambridge conferred the degree of C.D.L. and 
LL.D. on him respectively. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hamilton, 
and other towns, presented him with the freedom of their 
corporations, and entertained him with banquets. Dr. 
Livingstone remained in England until the 10th of March 
1858, in the interval publishing his "Missionary Travels in 
South Africa." Finding that his freedom of action might 
be encumbered by his continuance with the Missionary 
Society, he separated himself from it. His pay as a mis- 
sionary was too small for the calls upon him as a husband 
and a father, and he concluded that funds would be forth- 
coming from Government to enable him to continue his 
efforts for opening up the interior of Africa. 



CHAPTER IX. 



DR. LIVINGSTONE AND HIS FELLOW-TRAVELLERS LEAVE FOR 
AFRICA ASCENDS THE ZAMBESI AND THE SHIRE DIS- 
COVERS LAKES SHIRWA AND NYASSA 

HE interest felt by the public in the second 
mission of Dr. Livingstone to Africa was 
shared by the Government of the day. Lord 
Palmerston, who was then at the head of Her 
Majesty's Government, readily assented to rendering assist- 
ance to enable him to prosecute his researches in the valley 
of Zambesi. Lord Clarendon then held the seals of the 
Foreign Office, and under his auspices a mission was formed 
and means furnished to enable Dr. Livingstone to provide 
himself with efficient assistance and equipment for the 
proper prosecution of his new enterprise. This provision 
included his brother, the Rev. Charles Livingstone, who 
had joined him from the United States; Dr. Kirk, as 
botanist, since well known to the public as Her Majesty's 
Consul at Zanzibar; Mr. R. Thornton, as geologist and 
naturalist ; Mr. Baines, as artist ; and Captain Bedingfeld, 
as navigator and surveyor of the river systems. A small 
steamer constructed of steel, and christened the Ma-Robert 
in honour of Mrs. Livingstone, was specially designed for 
the navigation of the Zambesi. 

The party proceeded to the Cape on board Her Majesty's 
Colonial steamship Pearl, where they were joined by Mr. 
Francis Skead, R.N., as surveyor, and arrived off the mouths 
of the Zambesi in May. The real mouths of the Zambesi 
were little known, as the Portuguese Government had let 
it be understood that the Kilimane was the only navigable 




1 6o LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



outlet of the river. This was done to induce the English 
cruisers employed in the suppression of the slave trade to 
watch the false mouth while slaves were quietly shipped 
from the true one — this deception being propagated, even 
after the publication of Livingstone's discoveries, in a map 
issued by the Portuguese colonial minister. The Ma-Robert 
was put together and launched, and four inlets to the river, 
each of them superior to the Kilimane, discovered and 
examined. The four mouths are known as the Milambe, 
the Luabo, the Timbwe, and the Kongone — the latter being 
selected as the most navigable. 

Dr. Livingstone's manly exposure of the deception prac- 
tised by the Portuguese Government for the purpose of 
encouraging the slave trade excited the wrath and jealousy 
of the Portuguese Government officials, who have vainly 
endeavoured to throw discredit upon his discoveries. This 
feeling was not shared by the local authorities, who were, or 
pretended to be, really ignorant of the existence of the true 
channel, and shewed their appreciation of his discovery by 
establishing a fort at the mouth of the Kongone. 

Steaming up the channel, the natives retreating in terror 
at their approach, the party had an opportunity of admir- 
ing the fertility of the soil, and the abundant animal and 
vegetable life with which the delta abounds. The delta is 
much larger than that of the Nile, and if properly cultivated 
would, Livingstone thinks, grow as much sugar-cane as 
would supply the wants of the whole of Europe. The dark 
woods of the delta " resound with the lively and exultant 
cries of the kinghunter, as he sits perched on high among 
the trees. As the steamer moves on through the winding 
channel a pretty little heron or bright kingfisher darts out 
in alarm from the edge of the bank. . . . The magnificent 
fish-hawk sits on the top of a mangrove tree digesting his 
morning meal of fresh fish, and is clearly unwilling to stir 
until the imminence of the danger compels him at last to 



ASCENDS THE ZAMBESI. 



161 



spread his great wings for flight. The glossy ibis, acute of 
ear to a remarkable degree, hears from afar the unwonted 
sound of the paddles, and springing from the mud where 
his family has been quietly feasting, is off screaming out his 
loud, harsh, and defiant ha ! ha ! ha ! long before the danger 
is near. 

" The mangroves are now left behind, and are succeeded 
by vast level plains of rich dark soil, covered with gigantic 
grasses, so tall that they tower over one's head and render 
hunting impossible. Beginning in July the grass is burned 
off every year after it has become dry. . . . Several native 
huts now peep out from the bananas and cocoa-palms on 
the right bank ; they stand on piles a few feet above the 
level of the low damp ground, and their owners enter them 
by means of ladders." The native gardens were in a high 
state of cultivation — rice, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, toma- 
toes, cabbages, onions, peas, cotton, and sugar-cane being 
freely cultivated. The natives they met with were well 
fed, but very scantily clothed. They stood on the banks 
and gazed with wonder at the Pearl and the Ma-Robert, one 
of them, an old man, asking if the former was made out of 
one tree. They were all eager to trade, coming alongside 
the steamers in their canoes with fruit, and food, and honey, 
and beeswax, and shouting, " Malonda, Malonda I — Things 
for sale." 

When the water became too shallow for the passage of 
the Pearl she left the party, Mr. Skead and a Mr. Duncan 
who had accompanied them from the Cape returning with 
her. Several members of the expedition were left on an 
island, which they named Expedition Island, from the 18th 
of June until the 13th of August, while the others were 
conveying the goods up to Shupanga and Senna. This was 
a work of some danger, as the country was in a state of 
war — a half-caste chief called Mariano, who ruled over the 
country from the Shire down to Mazaro at the head of the 

11 



162 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



delta, having waged war against the Portuguese for some 
time previous to their visit. He was a keen slave-hunter, 
and kept a large number of men well armed with muskets. 
So long as he confined himself to slave-hunting forays among 
the helpless tribes, and carried down his captives in chains 
to Kilimane, where they were sold and shipped as "free 
emigrants " to the French island of Bourbon, the Portuguese 
authorities did not interfere with him, although his slave- 
hunting expeditions were conducted with the utmost atrocity, 
he frequently indulging his thirst for blood by spearing 
large numbers of helpless natives with his own hand. 
Getting bolder, he began to attack the natives who were 
under the protection of the Portuguese, and then war was 
declared against him. He resisted for a time, but fearing 
that he would ultimately get the worst of it, he went to 
Kilimane to endeavour to arrange for peace with the 
governor ; but Colonel da Silva refused his proffered bribes, 
and sent him to Mozambique for trial. When Livingstone's 
party first came in contact with the rebels at Mazaro they 
looked formidable and threatening, but on being told that 
the party were English they fraternised with them, and 
warmly approved of the objects of the expedition, 

A little later a battle was fought between the contending 
parties within a mile and a half of Livingstone's party ; 
and on landing to pay his respects to several of his old 
friends who had treated him kindly on the occasion of his 
former appearance amongst them, he found himself among 
the mutilated bodies of the slain. The governor was ill of 
fever, and Livingstone was requested to convey him to 
Shupanga ; and just as he had consented, the battle was 
renewed, the bullets whistling about his ears. Failing to 
get any assistance, Livingstone half supported and half 
carried the sick governor to the ship. His Excellency, who 
had taken nothing for the fever but a little camphor, and 
being a disbeliever in Livingstone's mode of treatment, waa 



ASCENDS THE ZAMBESI, 



163 



after some difficulty cured against his wilL A little after 
this, Bonga, Mariano's brother, made peace with the gover- 
nor, and the war came to an end. 

For miles before reaching Mazaro the scenery is unin- 
teresting, consisting of long stretches of level grassy plains, 
the monotony of which is broken here and there by the 
round green tops of stately palm-trees. Sand martins flitted 
about in flocks, darting in and out of their holes in the 
banks. On the numerous islands which dot the broad 
expanse of the stream many kinds of water-fowl, such as 
geese, flamingoes, herons, spoonbills, &c, were seen in large 
numbers. Huge crocodiles lay basking on the low banks, 
gliding sluggishly into the stream as they caught sight of 
the steamer. The hippopotamus il rising from the bottom, 
where he has been enjoying his morning bath after the 
labour of the night on shore, blows a puff of spray out of 
his nostrils, shakes the water out of his ears, puts his 
enormous snout up straight and yawns, sounding a loud 
alarm to the rest of the herd, with notes as of a monstrous 
bassoon." 

The Zulus or Landeens are the lords of the soil on the 
right bank of the Zambesi, and take tribute from the 
Portuguese at Senna and Shupanga. Each merchant pays 
annually two hundred pieces of cloth of sixteen yards each, 
beside beads and brass wire ; and while they groan under 
this heavy levy of black-mail they are powerless, as a 
refusal to pay it would involve them in a war in which they 
would lose all they possess. In the forests near Shupanga, 
a tree called by the natives mohvmdu-hundu abounds ; it 
attains to a great size, and being hard and cross-grained, is 
used for the manufacture of large canoes. At the time of 
Livingstone's visit, a Portuguese merchant at Kilimane paid 
the Zulus 300 dollars per annum for permission to cut it. 

Livingstone's old friends, Colonel Nunes and Major 
Sicard, received the traveller and his party with much 



164 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



goodwill, causing wood to be cut for fuel for the steamer. 
The wood used for this purpose was lignum vita and Afri- 
can ebony ; Rae, the engineer, knowing the value of these 
at home, " said it made his heart sore to burn woods so 
valuable." The india-rubber tree and calumba root were 
found to be abundant in the interior ; and along the banks 
of the river indigo was growing in a wild state. The Ma- 
Robert turned out a failure, the builder having deceived 
Livingstone as to her power, &c. It took hours to get up 
steam, and she went so slowly that the heavily-laden native 
canoes passed more rapidly up the river than she did. One 
can hardly think with temper on a misadventure like this, 
and can readily sympathise with his feeling of annoyance 
when he found that for all practical purposes she was worse 
than useless. Near the mouth of the Shire, Bonga, with 
some of his principal men, visited the party, and presented 
them with two sheep and a quantity of firewood. Within six 
miles of Senna the party had to leave the steamer, the shoal 
channel not being deep enough for her draught; the narrow 
winding path along which they had to march in Indian file 
lay through gardens and patches of wood, the loftiest trees 
being thorny acacias. " The sky was cloudy, the air cool and 
pleasant, and the little birds in the gladness of their hearts 
poured forth sweet strange songs, which, though equal to 
those of the singing birds at home on a spring morning, yet 
seemed somehow as if in a foreign tongue. We met many 
natives in the wood, most of the men were armed with 
spears, bows and arrows, and old Tower muskets ; the 
women had short-handled iron hoes, and were going to 
work in the gardens : they stepped aside to let us pass, and 
saluted us politely, the men bowing and scraping, and the 
women, even with heavy loads on their heads, curtseying— 
a curtsey from bare legs is startling ! " 

On an island near Senna they visited a small fugitive 
tribe of hippopotami hunters who had been driven from 



REJOINING THE MAKOLOLO. 165 



their own island in front. They are an exclusive people, 
and never intermarry with other tribes. These hunters 
frequently go on long expeditions, taking their wives and 
children with them, erecting temporary huts on the banks 
of the rivers, where they dry the meat they have killed. 
They are a comely race, and do not disfigure themselves 
with lip-ornaments as many of the neighbouring tribes do. 
Livingstone gives the following description of the weapon 
with which they kill the hippopotamus : — " It is a short 
iron harpoon inserted in the end of a long pole ; but being 
intended to unship, it is made fast to a strong cord of milola 
or hibiscus bark, which is wound closely round the entire 
length of the shaft and secured at its opposite end. Two 
men in a swift canoe steal quietly down on the sleeping 
animal; the bowman dashes the harpoon into the uncon- 
scious victim, while the quick steersman sweeps the light 
craft back with his broad paddle. The force of the blow 
separates the harpoon from its corded handle ; which, ap- 
pearing on the surface, sometimes with an inflated bladder 
attached, guides the hunters to where the wounded beast 
hides below until they despatch it." 

Near Tete a seam of excellent coal, of twenty-five feet in 
thickness, was visited and examined. Ooal and iron are 
common on the lower Zambesi, the latter being of excellent 
quality, and quite equal to the best Swedish. The exist- 
ence of these minerals must play an important part in the 
regeneration of the people and the civilisation of this vast 
and important district. 

The Ma-Robert anchored in the stream off Tete on the 
8th of September, and great was the joy of the Makololo 
men when they recognised Dr. Livingstone. Some were 
about to embrace him ; but others cried out, " Don't touch 
him, you will spoil his new clothes." They listened sadly to 
the account of the end of Sekwebu, remarking, u Men die in 
any country." They had much to tell of their own doings 



166 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



and trials. Thirty of their number had died of small-pox, 
and other six becoming tired of wood-cutting went away to 
dance before the neighbouring chiefs. They visited Bonga, 
the son of Nyaude (not the brother of Mariano), who cruelly 
put them to death. " We do not grieve," they said, " for 
the thirty victims of small-pox who were taken away by 
Morimo (God), but our hearts are sore for the six youths 
who were murdered by Bongo." If any order had been 
given by Don Pedro for the maintenance of the Makololo 
men during Livingstone's absence, it never reached Tetej 
and they were dependent on their own exertions and the 
kindness of Major Sicard, who treated them most generously, 
and gave them land and tools to raise some food for them- 
selves. 

At Tete the party took up their abode in the Residency 
House, and received the most generous hospitality from 
Major Sicard and all the Portuguese residents. A singular 
case of voluntary slavery came under Livingstone's notice 
here. Ohibanti, an active young fellow, who had acted as 
pilot to the expedition, sold himself to Major Sicard, assign- 
ing as a reason that he had neither father nor mother, and 
that Major Sicard was a kind master. He sold himself for 
three-and-thirty yard pieces of cloth. With two of the 
pieces he bought a man, a woman, and a child ; afterwards 
he bought more slaves, and owned a sufficient number to 
man one of the large canoes with which the trade of the 
river is carried on. Major Sicard subsequently employed 
him in carrying ivory and other merchandise to Kilimane, 
and gave cloth to his men for the voyage. The Portuguese, 
as a rule, are very kind to their slaves ; but the half-castes 
are cruel slave-holders. Livingstone quotes a saying of a 
humane Portuguese which indicates the reputation they 
bear : — « God made white men, and God made black men, 
but the devil made half-castes." 

The party visited and examined the Kebra-basa Rapids, 



THE KEBRA-BASA RAPIDS. 



167 



and found them very formidable barriers to the navigation 
of the river. They are so called from a range of rocky 
mountains which cross the Zambesi at that spot. The river, 
during the dry season, is confined to a narrow channel, 
through which the water forces itself, boiling and eddying 
within a channel of not more than sixty yards in width, the 
top of the masts of the Ma-Robert, although thirty feet high, 
not reaching to the flood-mark on the rocky sides. The 
whole bed and banks of the stream are broken by huge 
masses of rock of every imaginable shape. The rapids ex- 
tend for upwards of eight miles, and could only be passed 
by a steamer during the floods. The march along the banks 
of the river among the rocks, which were so hot from the 
heat of the sun as to blister the bare feet of the Makololo 
men, was most fatiguing. Several miles above these rapids 
is the cataract of Morumbwa, where the river is jammed 
into a cavity of not more than fifty yards in width, with a 
fall of twenty feet in a slope of thirty yards. During floods 
it is navigable, the rapids being all but obliterated through 
the great rise in the river, the rocks shewing a flood-mark 
eighty feet above the level of the stream. 

Finding it impossible to take their steamer through the 
Kebra-basa Rapids, the party forwarded from Tete, to 
which they had returned, information to that effect to the 
English Government, requesting that a more suitable vessel 
for the ascent of the river should be sent out to them. In 
the meantime they determined on ascending the Shire, 
which falls into the Zambesi about a hundred miles from 
its mouth. The Portuguese could give no information about 
it, no one having gone up it for any distance or found out 
from whence it came. Years ago they informed him that a 
Portuguese expedition had attempted to ascend it, but had 
to turn back on account of the impenetrable masses of duck- 
weed which grew in its bed and floated in shoals on its 
surface. The natives on its banks were reported to be 



168 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



treacherous, thievish, and bloodthirsty, and nothing but 
disaster was predicted at the end of such a foolhardy 
expedition. 

Br. Livingstone and his party had come all the way from 
England to explore the district, and were not to be lightly 
turned aside from their object, so early in January 1859 
they boldly entered the Shire. They found for the first 
twenty-five miles that a considerable quantity of duckweed 
was floating down the river, but not in sufiicient quantity 
to interrupt its navigation, even in canoes. As they ap- 
proached the native village the men assembled on the 
banks armed with bows and arrows, but it was not until 
they reached the village of a chief called Tingane, who had 
gained considerable notoriety by his successful prevention 
of the Portuguese slave-traders from passing further to the 
north, that they met anything like serious opposition. 
Here five hundred armed men were collected, who com- 
manded them to stop. Livingstone boldly went on shore, 
and at an interview with the chief of his headmen explained 
the objects of the party and their friendly disposition. 
Tingane, who was an elderly, well-made man, grey-headed, 
and over six feet high, withdrew his opposition to their 
further progress, and called all his people together, so that 
the object of the exploring party might be explained to them. 

Following the winding course of the river for about two 
hundred miles, their further progress was arrested by a series 
of cataracts, to which the party gave the name of "The 
Murchison," in honour of the great friend of the expedition, 
Sir Roderick Murchison. In going down the stream the 
progress of the Ma-Robert was very rapid. The hippopotami 
kept carefully out of the way, while the crocodiles frequently 
made a rush at the vessel as if to attack it, coming within a 
few feet of her, when they sank like a stone, to re-appear 
and watch the progress of the ur known invader of their 
haunts when she had passed. 



DR. LIVINGSTONE'S REPORT. 



169 



We again turn to Dr. Livingstone's communications to 
the Foreign Office, with a view of supplementing our narra- 
tive at this stage : — 

" In accordance with the intention expressed of revisiting 
the River Shire as soon as the alarm created by our first 
visit had subsided, I have the pleasure of reporting to your 
lordship that, having found the people this time all friendly, 
we left the vessel in charge of the quartermaster and stoker, 
with a chief named Chibisa (latitude 16° 2' south, longitude 
35° east), and, with Dr. Kirk and thirteen Makololo, ad- 
vanced on foot till we had discovered a magnificent inland 
lake called Shirwa. It has no known outlet, but appears 
particularly interesting, from a report of the natives on its 
banks, that it is separated from Lake Nyassa, which is 
believed to extend pretty well up to the equator, by a 
tongue of land only five or six miles broad; and as we 
ascertained, the southern end of the Shirwa is not more 
than thirty miles distant from a branch of the navigable 
Shire. 

"We had traced the Shire up to the northern end of 
Zomba, but were prevented by a marsh from following it 
further on that side. Coming round the southern flank of 
the mountain, on the 14th April, we saw the lake, and were 
then informed that the river we had left so near it had no 
connection with Lake Shirwa. We then proceeded east- 
wards, and on the 18th April reached its shores: a goodly 
sight it was to see, for it is surrounded by lofty mountains, 
and its broad blue waters, with waves dashing on some parts 
of its shore, look like an arm of the sea. The natives know 
of no outlet. We saw a good many streams flowing into it, 
for the adjacent country is well watered ; several rivulets 
which we crossed unite and form the Talombe and Sombane, 
which flow into the lake from the south-west. The water 
of the Shirwa has a bitter taste, but is drinkable. Fish 
abound, and so do alligators and hippopotami. When the 



i7o LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



southerly winds blow strongly, the water is said to retire 
sufficiently from that side to enable the people to catch fish 
in weirs planted there. 

" We made frequent inquiries among the people if they 
had ever been visited by white men before, and we were in- 
variably answered in the negative. A black woolly-haired 
slave-trader once visited the part, but the discovery is not 
spoken of in reference to such, the lake being surrounded 
by them ; but it is claimed for Dr. Kirk and myself as 
Europeans who accomplished it, entirely ignorant of any in- 
formation that may or may not be locked up in Portuguese 
archives." 

As their provisions were almost exhausted, the chief 
members of the party proceeded down the river to meet 
some of Her Majesty's cruisers off the Kongone ; and here 
they were compelled to beach the Ma-Robert for repairs. 
Besides being a bad sailer, she leaked so that the cabin was 
constantly flooded, the water coming not only from below, 
but through the deck whenever it rained. The damp caused 
by this state of affairs was very prejudicial to their health, 
and also caused the destruction of many botanical specimens, 
occasioning much worry and loss of time in replacing them 
with others. After receiving a supply of provisions from 
Her Majesty's brig Persian the party returned to Tete, and 
started on their third ascent of the Shire. On this occasion 
they examined a lagoon, called " the Lake of Mud " in the 
language of the natives, in which grows a lotus-root called 
nyika, which the natives collect ; when boiled or roasted it 
resembles our chestnuts, and as it is common throughout 
South Africa it is extensively used as food. These lagoons 
and marshes, which are common in the course of the great 
rivers of South Africa, mark the spot where extensive lakes 
existed when the waters passed off to the sea at a higher 
level than they do at the present day. 

As the miserable little steamer could not carry all the 



A NATIVE MUSICIAN. 



171 



men they required in this more extended expedition, they 
were compelled to place some of them in boats, which were 
towed astern. Unfortunately one of these capsized, and one 
of the Makololo men was drowned. At Mboma, where the 
people were eager to sell any quantity of food, the party 
were entertained by a native musician, who drew excru- 
ciating notes from a kind of one-stringed violin. As he 
threatened to serenade them all night, he was asked if he 
would not perish from cold. " Oh no," he replied, " I shall 
spend the night with my white comrades in the big canoe ; 
I have often heard of the white men, but never have seen 
them till now, and I must sing and play well to them." A 
small piece of cloth bought him off, and he departed well 
satisfied. 

On the banks were many hippopotami traps, which " con- 
sist of a beam of wood five or six feet long, armed with a 
spear-head or hardwood spike covered with poison, and 
suspended by a forked pole to a cord, which, coming down 
to the path, is held by a catch, to be set free when the 
animal treads on it. . . . One got frightened by the ship 
as she was steaming close to the bank. In its eager hurry 
to escape it rushed on shore, and ran directly under a trap, 
when down came the heavy beam on its back, driving the 
poisoned spear-head a foot into its flesh. In its agony it 
plunged back into the river, to die in a few hours, and 
afterwards furnish a feast for the natives. The poison on 
the spear-head does not affect the meat, except the part 
around the wound, which is cut out and thrown away." 

In the Shire marshes, in addition to abundance of the 
large four-footed game, water-fowl of many kinds were seen 
in prodigious numbers. Dr. Livingstone says : — 

11 An hour at the mast-head unfolds novel views of life in 
an African marsh. Near the edge, and on the branches of 
some favourite tree, rest scores of plotuses and cormorants, 
which stretch their snake-like necks, and in mute amaze- 



172 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



ment turn one eye and then another towards the approach* 
ing monster. The pretty ardetta, of a light yellow colour 
when at rest, but seemingly of a pure white when flying, 
takes wing and sweeps across the green grass in large 
numbers, often shewing us where buffaloes are by perching 
on their backs. Flocks of ducks, of which the kind called 
soiriri is most abundant, being night feeders, meditate 
quietly by the small lagoons, until startled by the noise of 
the steam machinery. Pelicans glide over the water 
catching fish, while the scopus and large herons peer in- 
tently into the pools. The large black and white spur- 
winged goose springs up and circles round to find out what 
the disturbance is, and then settles down again with a 
splash. Hundreds of linongolas rise from the clumps of reeds 
or low trees, in which they build in colonies, and are speedily 
in mid-air. Charming little red and yellow weavers remind 
one of butterflies as they fly in and out of the tall grass, or 
hang to the mouths of their pendant nests, chattering 
briskly to their mates within. . . . Kites and vultures are 
busy overhead beating the ground for their repast of the 
carrion, and the solemn-looking, stately-stepping marabout, 
with a taste for dead fish, or men, stalks slowly along the 
almost stagnant channels. . . . Towards evening hundreds 
of pretty little hawks are seen flying in a southerly direction, 
and feeding on dragon-flies and locusts. . . . Flocks of 
scissor-bills are then also on the wing, and in search of food, 
ploughing the water with their lower mandibles, which are 
nearly half-an-inch longer than the upper ones." 

On the 28th of August Livingstone and his three white 
companions, accompanied by two guides and thirty-six 
Makololo men, left the vessel in charge of the remainder of 
the party, and started in search of Lake Nyassa. A short 
march up a beautiful little valley, through which flowed a 
small stream, led them to the foot of the Manganja hills, 
over which their course lay. Looking back from a height 



INDUSTRY OF THE INHABITANTS. 



173 



of a thousand feet, the beautiful country, for many miles, 
with the Shire flowing through it, excited their admiration ; 
while as they approached the summit of the range, innumer- 
able valleys opened out to their admiring gaze, and majestic 
mountains reared their heads in all directions. This part 
of the journey was exceedingly toilsome, but the uniform 
kindness of the inhabitants and the beauty of the scenery 
made up for their exertions. Among the hill-tribes women 
are treated as if they were inferior animals, but in the 
upper valley of the Shire they found that women were held 
in great respect, the husband seldom doing anything unless 
the wife approved. A portion of the valley was ruled over 
by a female chief named Nyango. On reaching the village 
the party went to the boalo, or speaking-place, under the shade 
of lofty trees, where mats of split reeds or bamboo were 
usually placed for the white members of the party to sit 
upon. Here the grand palaver was held, at which their 
objects and intentions in visiting the country were discussed 
with due gravity and form. 

The inhabitants of this district are very industrious ; in 
addition to cultivating the soil extensively, they work in 
iron, weave cotton, and make baskets. Each village has its 
smelting-house, charcoal-burners, and blacksmiths. The 
axes, spears, needles, arrowheads, bracelets, and anklets 
are excellent, and are sold exceedingly cheap. Crockery 
and pottery of various kinds are also largely manufactured ; 
and fishing-nets are made from the fibres of the buaze, a 
shrub which grows on the hills. 

The use of ornaments on the legs and arms is common, 
but the most extraordinary custom is that of the pelele, 
worn by women. A small hole is made in the upper lip 
and gradually widened — the process of widening extending 
over several years — until an aperture of from one or two 
inches is rendered permanent ; into this a tin or ivory ring 
is forced, until the lip protrudes a couple of inches beyond 



174 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



the nose. " When an old wearer of a hollow ring smiles, 
by the action of the muscle of the cheeks, the ring and lip 
outside it are dragged back and thrown over the eyebrows. 
The nose is seen through the middle of the ring, and the 
exposed teeth shew how carefully they have been chipped 
to look like those of the crocodile." No reason was given 
for this monstrosity, excepting that it was the fashion. 
The prevalence of such a hideous custom is the more to be 
wondered at, as the Manganja are a comely people, intelli- 
gent-looking, with well-shaped heads and agreeable features. 

They brew large quantities of a kind of beer. "The 
grain is made to vegetate, dried in the sun, pounded into 
meal, and gently boiled. "When only a day or two old, the 
beer is sweet, with a slight degree of acidity, which renders 
it a most graceful beverage in a hot climate, or when fever 
begets a sore craving for acid drinks." It is pinkish in 
colour, and of the consistency of thin gruel. It takes a 
large quantity of it to produce intoxication; but as they 
must drink it rapidly, as it will not keep for any time, 
intoxication among the Manganjas is very common, whole 
villages being often found by the travellers on the spree. 
It apparently has no baneful effects upon them, nor does it 
shorten life, as the party never saw so many aged people as 
they did while amongst this people. One aged chief, Muata 
Manga, appeared to be about ninety years of age. "His 
venerable appearance struck the Makololo. ' He is an old 
man,' they said; *a very old man; his skin hangs in 
wrinkles, just like that on elephants' hips.' " 

Speaking of the drinking habits of the Manganjas, Dr. 
Livingstone said in one of his letters : " I saw more intoxica- 
tion in the forty days of our march on foot than I had seen 
in other parts during sixteen years. It is a silly sort of 
drunkenness ; only one man had reached the fighting stage, 
and he was cured by one of the Makololo thrusting him 
aside from the path he wished to obstruct, and giving him a 



DISCO VER Y OF LAKE NYASSA, 175 



slap in the face." It would appear that, like many com- 
bative people nearer home, he was only " pot valiant." 

They very rarely wash, and are consequently very dirty. 
An old man told them that he had once washed, but it was 
so long since that he did not remember how he felt ; and 
the women asked the Makololo, "Why do you wash; our 
men never do?" As might have been expected, skin 
diseases were common. They believe in a Divine being 
whom they call Morungo, and in a future state ; but where 
or in what condition the spirits of the dead exist they do 
not know, as although the dead they say sometimes returns 
to the living and appear to them in their dreams, they 
never tell them how they fare or whither they have gone. 

Lake Nyassa was discovered a little before noon on the 
16th of September 1859, with the river Shire running out 
at its southern end in 14° 25' S. latitude. The chief of the 
village near the outlet of the Shire, called Mosauka, invited 
the party to visit his village, and entertained them under a 
magnificent banyan-tree, giving them as a gift a goat and a 
basket of meal. A party of Arab slave-hunters were en- 
camped close by. They were armed with long muskets, and 
were a villainous-looking set of fellows. Mistaking the 
country of the white men they had met so unexpectedly, 
they offered them young children for sale ; but on hearing 
that they were English, they shewed signs of fear, and 
decamped during the night. Curiously enough, one of the 
slaves they had with them recognised the party ; she had 
been rescued by Her Majesty's ship Lynx at Kongone along 
with several others. She said 11 that the Arabs had fled 
for fear of an uncanny sort of Basunga" (white men or 
Portuguese). 

Several great slave-paths from the interior cross the upper 
valley of the Shire. The chiefs are ashamed of the traffic, 
and excuse themselves by saying that they " do not sell 
many, and only those that have committed crimes." The 



176 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



great inducement to sell each other is that they have no 
ivory and nothing else with which to buy foreign goods : a 
state of matters which the Arab traders know how to take 
advantage of, as they want nothing but slaves and the food 
they may require when on the hunt. Nothing but the estab- 
lishment of legitimate commerce can be expected to put a 
stop to the slave traffic in such circumstances as these. The 
sight of slaves being led in forked sticks excited the indig 
nation of the Makololo, and they could not understand why 
Livingstone did not allow them to set them free, by force if 
necessary. They said, "Ay, you call us bad, but are we 
yellow-hearted like these fellows % Why don't you let us 
choke them 1 " These slave-sticks were about three feet in 
length, with a fork at one end, into which the neck is thrust. 
The stick is retained in its position by putting a piece of 
stout wire through the ends of the fork, which is turned 
down at either end. The price of slaves near Lake Nyassa 
was four yards of cotton cloth for a man, three for a woman, 
and two for a boy or girl. When flesh and blood cost so 
little as an absolute purchase, free labour could be bought 
at a price which would make the rearing of cotton, corn, &c, 
a profitable speculation if a proper means of communication 
with the coast were opened up. Water carriage by the 
Shire and the Zambesi exists all the way, save for a distance 
of about thirty miles at the Murchison Cataracts, and from 
the character of the country the making of a road for this 
distance would be no serious difficulty. At the time of 
Livingstone's visit, cotton, of which the Manganja grew 
considerable quantities for their own use, was worth less 
than a penny per pound. 

The party returned to the steamboat after a land journey 
of forty days, very much exhausted at eating the cassava 
root. In its raw state it is poisonous, but when boiled 
twice, and the water strained off, it has no evil effect. The 
cook, not knowing this, had served it up after boiling it 



HERDS OF ELEPHANTS. 



177 



until the water was absorbed, and it was only after it had 
been tried with various mixtures, and the whole party had 
suffered for days from its effects, that the cause was dis= 
covered. 

At Elephant Marsh, on their return, they saw nine vast 
herds of elephants ; they frequently formed a line two 
miles long. 

From Chibisa's village Dr. Kirk and Mr. Rae, with 
guides, went overland to Tete, and suffered greatly from the 
heat on the journey, arriving there very much exhausted. 
The steamer, with the other members of the expedition, had 
arrived at Tete before them, and gone down to Kongone, as 
it was necessary to beach the vessel for repairs, as she 
leaked worse than ever. Off Senna, Senhor Ferrao sent 
them a bullock, which was a very acceptable gift. At 
Kongone they were supplied with stores from Her Majesty's 
ship Lynx: but unfortunately a boat was swamped in 
crossing the "bar, and the mail bags, with despatches from 
Government and letters from home, were lost. It is easy to 
sympathise with Livingstone's distress at this most unfortu- 
nate accident. " The loss of the mail bags," he says, " was 
felt severely, as we were on the point of starting on an 
expedition into the interior which might require eight or 
nine months ; and twenty months is a weary time to be with- 
out news of friends and family. After returning to Tete, 
where they stayed some time enjoying the hospitality of the 
Portuguese merchants, Livingstone and his companions, 
before proceeding inland to visit the Makololo country, 
sailed down the Zambesi with Mr. Rae (the engineer), who 
was about to return to England to superintend the con- 
struction of a successor to the Ma-Robert, which was of no 
use for the purposes for which she was intended. At 
Shupanga, Sininyane, one of the Makololo, exchanged 
names with a Zulu, and ever afterwards only answered to 
the name of Moshoshoma, This custom is common among 

12. 



178 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



the tribes on the Zambesi. After exchanging names the 
parties owe to each other special duties and services ever 
afterwards. While at Kebra-basa Charles Livingstone was 
made a comrade for life — names not being exchanged — of a 
hungry native traveller, to whom he gave some food and a 
small piece of cloth. Eighteen months afterwards, the man 
having prospered in the interval, he came into the camp of 
the party while on their journey into the interior, bringing 
a liberal present of rice, meal, beer, and a fowl, saying 
" that he did not like them, to sleep hungry or thirsty." 
Some of the Makololo took the names of friendly chiefs, and 
others took the names of famous places they had visited ; 
the assumed names being retained after their return to their 
own country. 

At Senna and Tete he noticed a singular service in which 
domesticated monkeys were engaged. In speaking of the 
opportunities the merchants at these places allow to 
pass them of creating a thriving legitimate commerce, he 
says : " Our friends at Tete, though heedless of the obvious 
advantages which other nations would eagerly seize, have 
beaten the entire world in one branch of industry. It is a 
sort of anomaly that the animal most nearly allied to man 
in structure and function should be the most alien to him 
in respect to labour or trusty friendship, but here the 
genius of the monkey is turned to good account. He is 
made to work in the chase of certain 'wingless insects, 
better known than respected.' Having been invited to 
witness this branch of Tete industry, we can testify that 
the monkey took it kindly, and it seemed profitable to both 
parties." 

The following is taken from Dr. Livingstone's report on 
the Shire Yalley : — 

" I have the honour to convey the information that we 
have traced the River Shire up to its point of departure 
from the hitherto undiscovered Lake Nyinyesii or Nyassa, 



THE SHIRE VALLEY. 



179 



and found that there are only thirty-three miles of cataracts 
to be passed above this, when the river becomes smooth 
again, and continues so right into the lake in lat. 14° 25' 
south. We have opened a cotton and sugar-producing 
country of unknown extent, and while it really seems to 
afford reasonable prospects of great commercial benefits to 
our own country, it presents facilities for commanding a 
large section of the slave-market on the east coast, and 
offers a fairer hope of its extirpation by lawful commerce 
than our previous notion of the country led us to anticipate. 
The matter may appear to your lordship in somewhat the 
same light, if the following points in the physical conforma- 
tion of the country are borne in mind. 

" There is a channel of about from five to twelve feet at 
all seasons of the year, from the sea at Kongone harbour 
up to this cataract, a distance of about two hundred miles, 
and very little labour would be required to construct a 
common road past the cataracts, as the country there, 
though rapidly increasing in general elevation, is compara- 
tively flat near the river. 

"Dr. Kirk and I, with four Makololo, went up to the 
worst or unapproachable rapid, called 'Morumbua.' Our 
companions were most willing fellows, but at last gave in, 
shewing their horny soles blistered, and the blisters broken. 
Our good strong boots were quite worn through ; a pair of 
powries (none-such) went as the others, though in ordinary 
travelling there was no wearing them down. On still 
urging the Makololo to another effort, they said that * they 
always believed I had a heart till then ; I had surely be- 
come insane, and they were sorry Kirk could not understand 
them, for if he could he would go back with them.' A fort- 
night and thirty miles made us all lean and haggard, as if 
recovering from severe illness. Had I come by this way in 
1856 I should never have reached Tete. I do not attempt 
to describe the rocks, broken, twisted, huddled about in the 



i8o LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



wildest manner and confusion, over which we struggled : it 
is impossible. But this region, with its lofty healthy moun- 
tains, will yet become famous for tourists. We climbed 
over mountains two thousand or two thousand three hundred 
feet high, and cut our way through the tangled forest that 
covers them. I once thought highly of field geography, 
and despised that of the easy-chair, but I gave in now. 
Commend me to travelling with a pair of compasses or 
seven-league boots, without any regard to the slight obstacles 
which Nature has interposed. Easy-chair geography will 
do for all the easy-going people, and is often believed in by 
even the public; but you need not suppose I have been 
going the length of making no observations, though I cannot 
send you any on this occasion. No time to transcribe." 



CHAPTER X. 



STARTS FOR LINYANTI — THE " GO-NAKED " TRIBES— THE 
VICTORIA FALLS. 

S Livingstone felt bound in honour to revisit 
Sekeletu and take back the men who had 
accompanied him from that chief in his wander- 
ings, together with the merchandise he had 
purchased for his use with the tusks entrusted to him, the 
party started from Tete to Linyanti on the 15th of May, 
leaving ten English sailors in charge of the ship until their 
return. As many of the men had taken up with slave 
women, they did not leave with much goodwill, and before, 
the party had reached Kebra-basa Rapids thirty of them had 
deserted. Before starting Livingstone had paid them in 
cloth, <kc, for their services in the expedition, being anxious 
that they should make as good an appearance as possible 
when they reached Linyanti. Many of them had earned a 
good deal during their stay at Tete while Dr. Livingstone 
was absent in England, but as they unfortunately picked up 
many of the evil habits of the natives round Tete, they had 
squandered all they possessed. It is painful to think that 
these unsophisticated sons of nature should have come so far 
to see and meet civilised people with such results. Not 
only were the slave and half-caste population drunk and 
immoral, but the Portuguese merchants, with few exceptions, 
were no better. 

A merchant at Tete sent three of his men with the party 
to convey a present for Sekeletu, two other merchants sent 
him a couple of donkeys, and Major Sicard sent them men to 
assist them on their return, when, of course, their attendants 




182 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



would be reduced, should the Makololo men elect to remain 
and no one volunteer to accompany them on their return 
down the river. In order to escape the exactions of the 
Banyai tribes, the party proceeded up the left bank of the 
river. 

"It is believed also," says Dr. Livingstone, "that the 
souls of departed chiefs enter into lions, rendering them 
sacred. On one occasion, when we had shot a buffalo in the 
path beyond the Kafue, a hungry lion, attracted probably 
by the smell of the meat, came close to our camp, and roused 
up all hands by his roaring." One of their native followers, 
imbued with the belief that the brute was a chief in disguise, 
took him to task in his intervals of silence for his meanness 
in wanting to plunder the camp. 

" You a chief, eh ? You call yourself a chief do you 1 
What kind a chief are you to come sneaking about in the 
dark, trying to steal our buffalo meat? Are you not 
ashamed of yourself 1 A pretty chief truly ; you are like the 
scavenger beetle, and think of yourself only. You have not 
the heart of a chief ; why don't you kill your own beef 1 
You must have a stone in your chest, and no heart at all 
indeed!" 

In camping, the men by turns cut grass for the beds of 
the three Englishmen — Dr. Livingstone being placed in 
the middle, Dr. Kirk on the right, and Charles Livingstone 
on the left. Their bags, rifles, and revolvers were placed 
near their beds, and a fire was kindled near their feet. A 
dozen fires were kindled in the camp nightly, and replenished 
from time to time by the men who were awakened by the 
cold. On these grass beds, with their rugs drawn over 
them, the three Englishmen slept soundly under some 
giant tree, through whose branches, when awake, they 
could look up to the clear star-spangled moonlit sky. 
Their attendants slept between mats of palm leaves, which 
were sewn together round three sides of the square, one 



STARTS FOR LINYANTI. s$3 



being left open to enable the man to crawl in between 
the two. These sleeping bags are called fumbas, and 
when they were all at rest within the encampment they 
had the appearance of sacks strewn round about the camp- 
fires. 

In camp, when food was plenty, there was no lack of 
amusement. After the camp-fires were lighted, and the 
important labours consequent on cooking and eating were 
over, the party sat round the fires talking and singing. 

" Every evening one of the Batoka played his sansa, and 
continued at it until far into the night. He accompanied it 
with an extempore song, in which he rehearsed their deeds 
ever since they left their own country." Political discus- 
sions frequently arose, in which radical and revolutionary 
theorists combatted loyal and constitutional orators, after the 
manner of political clubs at home. On these occasions "the 
whole camp was aroused, and the men shouted to one 
another from the different fires; whilst some whose tongues 
were never heard on any other subject now burst forth 
into impassioned speech. The misgovernment of chiefs 
formed an inexhaustible theme." 

About five o'clock in the morning the camp was astir ; 
the blankets were folded and stowed away in bags ; the 
fumbas and cooking-pots were fixed on the end of the 
carrying sticks, which were borne on the shoulders. The 
cook carried the cooking utensils used for the Englishmen, 
and after a cup of tea or coffee the whole party were on the 
march before sunrise. At nine, breakfast was prepared at 
a convenient spot. In the middle of the day there was a 
short rest, and early in the afternoon they pitched their 
camp, the white men going a-hunting if food was required, 
and examining the neighbourhood. Their rate of progress 
was about two-and-a-half miles an hour as the crow flies, 
and their daily march lasted about six hours. After several 
days of this the natives complained of being fatigued, even 



x$4 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



when well fed with fresh meat. They lacked the stamina 
and endurance of the Europeans, although travelling in 
their own country. 

In the Ohicova plains a chief named Ohitora brought the 
party a present of food and drink, because, he said, " He 
did not wish us to sleep hungry : he had heard of Dr. 
Livingstone when he passed down, and had a great desire 
to see and converse with him; but he was a child then, and 
could not speak in the presence of great men. He was glad 
that he had seen the English now, and was sorry that his 
people were away, or he should have made them cook for 
us." Here and at other places they noticed that the natives 
filtered their water through sand, even although at the time 
the water of the river was clear and limpid. During the 
flood, as the water is polluted with all sorts of filth col- 
lected near the native villages, the filtering process is very 
necessary. 

Of the effect the white men have upon the native popula- 
tion on a first encounter, Dr. Livingstone says : — 

" There must be something in the appearance of white 
men frightfully repulsive to the unsophisticated natives of 
Africa, for on entering villages previously unvisited by 
Europeans, if we met a child coming quietly and unsus- 
pectingly towards us, the moment he raised his eyes and 
saw the men in 'bags' (trousers) he would take to his heels 
in an agony of terror, such as we might feel if we met a 
live Egyptian mummy at the door of the British museum. 
Alarmed by the child's wild outcries, the mother rushes out 
of her hut, but darts back again at the first glimpse of the 
same fearful apparition. Dogs turn tail and scour off in 
dismay, and hens, abandoning their chickens, fly screaming 
to the tops of the houses. The so-lately peaceful village 
becomes a scene of confusion and hubbub, until calmed by 
the peaceful assurance of our men that white people do not eat 
black folks — a joke having oftentimes greater influence in 



STARTS FOR LINYANTI. 



185 



Africa than solemn assertions. Some of our young swells, 
on entering an African village, might experience a collapse 
of self-inflation at the sight of all the pretty girls fleeing 
from them, as from hideous cannibals, or by witnessing, as 
we have done, the conversion of themselves into public 
hobgoblins; the mammas holding naughty children away 
from them, and saying, * Be good, or I shall call the white 
men to bite you.'" 

The two donkeys rivalled them in the interest they 
excited. "Great was the astonishment when one of the 
donkeys began to bray. The timid jumped more than if a 
lion had roared beside them. All were startled, and stood 
in mute amazement at the harsh-voiced one till the last 
broken note was uttered ; then, on being assured that noth- 
ing in particular was meant, they looked at each other and 
burst into a loud laugh at their common surprise. When 
one donkey stimulated the other to try his vocal powers, 
the interest felt by the startled natives must have equalled 
that of the Londoners when they first crowded to see the 
famous hippopotamus." 

Here they examined seams of excellent coal, and found 
lumps of it which had been brought down from the near 
hill ranges by the brooks, and astonished the natives by 
shewing them that the black stones would burn. They 
stated that there was plenty of it among the hills. Some 
of the chiefs wore wigs made of the fibrous leaves of a plant 
called ife, allied to the aloes. When properly dyed these 
wigs have a fine glossy appearance. Mpende and his people, 
who were objects of some dread to Livingstone and his com- 
panions in their journey to the coast from Linyanti, were 
now most friendly, the chief apologising for his want of 
attention to the traveller and his party as they passed on 
their way to the coast. Several Banyai chiefs sent their 
headmen across the stream to demand tribute, but the 
travellers were glad to be in a position to resist such exac- 



186 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



tions. Halting near the village of a chief named Pangola, 
he demanded a rifle in exchange for the food they needed, 
and refused to trade on any other terms. Fortunately a 
member of the party managed to shoot a water-buck, which 
rendered them independent of the greedy savage, who was 
intensely mortified at seeing them depart without his having 
traded with them in any way. He cried after them as they 
passed on their way, " You are passing Pangola. Do not 
you see Pangola 1 " But the whole party were so disgusted 
at him that they would have no dealings with him on any 
terms. 

The only thing ©dible they wanted in the central plains 
was vegetables. Now and again they got a supply of sweet* 
potatoes, which allayed the disagreeable craving that a 
continuous diet of meat and meal had induced. After 
crossing the Kafue the party got amongst a people of 
Batoka origin, and belonging to the same tribe as several 
of the attendants who had left Linyanti with Livingstone. 
Here they were told that Moselekatse's (Sebituane's great- 
enemy) chief town was above three hundred miles distant,, 
and that the English had come to him and taught him that 
it was wrong to kill people, and that now he sent out his 
men to collect and sell ivory. It was refreshing to find that 
news of this description had travelled so far. The Bawee, 
a people who go entirely nude, or clothed only in a coat of 
red ochre, were very friendly. The party tried to discover 
the reason for their going naked, but could only learn that 
it was the custom. The habit was only confined to the 
males, the women being always more or less clothed. They 
felt no shame, nor could any feeling be aroused by laughing 
and joking at their appearance. They "evidently felt no* 
less decent than we did with our clothes on ; but whatever 
may be said in favour of nude statues, it struck us that man 
in a state of nature is a most ungainly animal. Could we 
see a number of the degraded of our own lower classes m 



THE "GO-NAKED" TRIBES. 



187 



like guise, it is probable that, without the black colour which 
acts somehow as a dress, they would look worse still." 

Leaving the bank of the Zambesi for a time, the party 
travelled through the Batoka highlands, where the free 
air of the hill-side was most invigorating and beneficial, 
especially to Dr. Kirk, who had suffered from fever. The 
country, although very fertile, is thinly populated, Sebituane 
and Moselekatse having ravaged it in their numerous forays. 
The Batoka are a peace-loving and industrious people ; they 
were so hospitable that it would have pained them if the 
party had passed without receiving something. Very fre- 
quently they prepared their camp for them — smoothing the 
ground with their hoes for their beds, collecting grass and 
firewood, erecting a bush fence to protect them from the 
wind, and carrying water from the distant well or stream. 

Once they were visited by a noble specimen of the Go- 
nakeds, clothed only in a tobacco-pipe, with a stem two feet 
long wound round with polished ivory. "God made him 
naked," he said, "and he had therefore never worn any 
clothing." 

Great quantities of tobacco are grown in the Batoka 
country, which is famed for its quality. They are in- 
veterate smokers, but always had the politeness to ask the 
white men's permission before smoking in their presence. 
Above Kariba the people had never before been visited by 
white men. The chief of Koba, on being asked if any 
tradition existed among his people of strangers having 
visited the country, answered, " Not at all ; our fathers all 
died without telling us that they had seen men like you. 
To-day I am exalted in seeing what they never saw ; " 
while others, in a spirit worthy of Charles Lamb, who 
threatened to write for the ancients because the moderns 
did not appreciate him properly, said, "We are the true 
ancients; we have seen stranger things than any of our 
ancestors, in seeing yovk" 



m LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



At Moachemba, the first of the Batoka villages whioh 
owed any allegiance to Sekeletu, the party distinctly saw 
the smoke of the Victoria Falls, twenty miles distant. 
Here their native attendants heard news from home. 
Takelang's wife had been killed by Sekeletu's headmen at 
the falls on a charge of witchcraft ; Inchikola's two wives, 
believing him to be dead, had married again ; and Masakasa 
was intensely disquieted to hear that two years before his 
friends, giving him up for dead, had held a kind of Irish 
wake in his honour, slaughtered all his oxen, and thrown 
his shield over the falls. He declared he would devour 
them, and when they came to salute him would say, " I am 
dead ; I am not here ; I belong to another world, and should 
stink if I came among you." The Batoka wife of Sima, 
who had remained faithful to him during his absence, came 
to welcome him back, and took the young wife he had 
brought with him from Tete away with her without a 
murmur of disapproval. At night, when the camp was 
quiet, Takelang fired his musket, and cried out, "I am 
weeping for my wife; my court is desolate; I have no 
home ! " ending with a loud wail of anguish. 

Dr. Livingstone and his English friends had news also to 
receive of a painful character. An attempt to establish a 
mission at Linyanti under the Kev. F. 0. Helmore had 
failed. The mission originally consisted of nine Europeans 
and thirteen coloured people from the neighbourhood of 
Kuruman. Of these, five Europeans, including Mr. Helmore 
and his wife, and four natives, died within three months, 
and the survivors retreated disheartened from the region 
which had been so deadly to their devoted companions. 
Sekeletu had behaved very badly to the members of the 
mission, and got into trouble on account of his conduct 
with Sechele, who considered himself the guardian and 
protector of the white man in these parts. 

The various headmen of Sekeletu having been holding 



THE VICTORIA FALLS. 



forays among the Batoka, had to be lectured by Dr. Living- 
stone — a discipline which they took in good part, excusing 
themselves by endeavouring to prove that they were in the 
right, and could not avoid fighting. 

On the 9th of August 1860 the party reached the Victoria 
Falls, and Dr. Livingstone and his two companions were 
rowed through the rapids to Garden Island to obtain a view 
of the falls. The canoe in which they sat was owned by 
Tuba Mokoro, which means " smasher of canoes," a some- 
what ominous title, which his success and skill on the 
present occasion belied. The party had to embark several 
miles above the falls, and were strictly enjoined to maintain 
silence. For a considerable distance the river was smooth 
and tranquil, the beautiful islands, densely covered with 
tropical vegetation, adding to the pleasure felt in the rapid 
and easy movement of the craft. Near the falls the surface 
of the river is broken by rocks, which, as the water was 
then low, protruded their heads above the stream, breaking 
the current into boiling and foaming eddies, which required 
all the skill of the boatmen to pilot their way through. 
" There were places," Livingstone says, " where the utmost 
exertion of both men had to be put forth in order to force 
the canoe to the only safe part of the rapids, and to prevent 
it from sweeping down broadside, when in a twinkling we 
should have found ourselves floundering among the plotuses 
and cormorants, which were engaged in diving for their 
breakfast of small fish. At times it seemed as if nothing 
could save us from dashing in our headlong race against the 
rocks, which, now that the river was low, jutted out of the 
water ; but just at the very nick of time Tuba passed the 
word to the steersman, and then with ready pole turned 
the canoe a little aside, and we glided smoothly past the 
threatened danger. Never was canoe more admirably 
managed. . . . We were driven swiftly down. A black 
rock, over which the foam flew, lay directly in our path, 



190 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



The pole was planted against it as readily as ever, but it 
slipped just as Tuba put forth his strength to turn the bow 
off. We struck hard, and were half-full of water in a 
moment. Tuba recovered himself as speedily, shoved off 
the bow, and shot the canoe into a still shallow place to 
bale out the water." 

At the falls they met an Englishman, a Mr. Baldwin, 
from Natal, who had reached them, his only guide for the 
greater part of the way being his pocket-compass. He had 
anticipated the arrival of his waggon by two days. Mash- 
otlam had ferried him across the stream, and when nearly 
over he had jumped out and swam ashore. " If," said the 
chief, " he had been devoured by one of the crocodiles which 
abound there, the English would have blamed us for his 
death. He nearly inflicted a great injury upon us, therefore 
we said he must pay a fine." Mr. Baldwin was, when Dr. 
Livingstone and his friends met him, contentedly waiting 
the arrival of his waggon, so that he might pay the fine. 

On reaching Sesheke, where Sekeletu was, Dr. Living- 
stone found matters in a bad way with the Makololo. 
Sekeletu was suffering from leprosy, and had withdrawn 
himself from the sight of his people. A long-continued 
drought had almost destroyed the crops, and the country 
was suffering from a partial famine. The illness and in- 
activity of Sekeletu had induced chiefs and headmen at a 
distance to do as they pleased, which meant too often the 
ill-usage of their immediate dependents, and the plundering 
of neighbouring and friendly tribes. 

On the arrival of the party, an unbroken stream of visitors 
poured in upon them, all desirous of paying their respects to 
Dr. Livingstone, and to tell him the haps and mishaps 
which had befallen them during his absence. All were in 
low spirits. Sekeletu, believing himself bewitched, had 
slain a number of his chief men, together with their families ; 
distant friendly tribes were revolting ; famine was upon 



ILLNESS OF SEKELETU. 



them, and the power of the Makololo was passing away. 
These forebodings were only too soon realised. In 1864 
Sekeletu died, and in the struggle which ensued for tho 
succession, the wide kingdom his father had conquered and 
ruled over, with a wisdom unexampled among his peers, 
was broken up. 

They found Sekeletu sitting in a covered waggon, which 
was enclosed in a high wall of reeds. His face was slightly 
disfigured by the thickening and discolouration of the skin 
where the leprosy had passed over it. He had a firm belief 
that he had been bewitched. As the doctors of his own tribe 
could do nothing for him, a female doctor of the Manyeti 
tribe was endeavouring to cure him at the time of Dr. 
Livingstone's arrival. After some difficulty she allowed the 
white man to take her patient in charge, and under their 
treatment he all but recovered. 

The two horses left by Dr. Livingstone in 1853 were still 
alive, notwithstanding the severe discipline to which they 
had been subjected. Sekeletu had a great passion for 
horses, and about a year before the arrival of Livingstone and 
his friends from Tete, a party of Makololo were sent to Ben- 
guela on the west coast, who had purchased five horses, but 
they had all died on the journey, through being bewitched as 
they believed, and they arrived with nothing to shew for them 
save their tails. The merchants at Benguela had treated them 
kindly, and made them presents of clothing and other articles. 
As they had only recently arrived, and their clothes were com- 
paratively unworn, they proved, when arrayed in their best, 
to be as well if not better dressed than Livingstone and his 
white friends. " They wore shirts well washed and starched, 
coats and trousers, white socks, and patent leather boots, a 
red Kilmarnock cowl on the head, and a brown wide-awake 
on the top of that." They and the travelling natives who 
had come from Tete fraternised, and held themselves to be 
something superior on account of what they had seen ; but, 



192 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



as in more enlightened regions, there was not wanting a 
party who believed in ignorance. " They had seen the sea, 
had they 1 " these would say, " and what is that 1 — nothing 
but water. They could see plenty of water at home — ay, 
more than they wanted to see ; and white people came to 
their town — why then travel to the coast to look at them 1 " 
Sekeletu was well pleased with the articles brought for 
him. The sugar-mill had been left at Tete, being too bulky 
to be carried with them. On the arrival of a proper 
steamer for the navigation of the Zambesi, he was informed, 
it would be sent up as far as the falls. In his ignorance as 
regarded the power of artillery, he asked him if cannon 
could not blow away the falls, and allow the vessel to come 
up to Sesheke. 

Two packages containing letters and newspapers from 
Kuruman were lying at Linyanti, and a messenger was sent 
for them, who returned with only one (the other being too 
heavy for him) within seven days, during which time he had 
travelled two hundred and forty miles, 

As Dr. Livingstone wished to get some more medicine 
and papers out of the waggon he had left at Linyanti in 
1853, he determined to proceed there himself. On his 
arrival he found the waggon and its contents untouched 
from the time of his departure in 1853, and everything in 
its place. This illustrates the trustworthy character of the 
Makololo, which was still further exemplified by the dis- 
covery of one of the books of notes he had left with Seke- 
letu on his departure for the west coast in 1853. It will 
be remembered that, fearing he was dead, Sekeletu had given 
two books, together with a letter addressed to Mr. Moffat, 
to a native trader, and that nothing further had been heard 
of them. On being told that the trader, to whom they had 
said they had given the books and letters, had denied having 
received them, Seipone, one of Sekeletu's wives, said, " He 
lies -j I gave them to him myself." The trader afterwards 



BELIEF~m WITCHCRAFT, 



went to Moselekatse's country, and his conscience having 
bothered him, it is presumed " one of the volumes was put 
into the mail-bag coming from the south, which came to 
hand with the lock taken off in quite a scientific manner." 

In the waggon Livingstone found the supply of medicine 
he had left there untouched, and it was a melancholy re- 
flection that Mr Helmore and the other members of his 
mission should have died there, with the medicines they 
needed lying within a hundred yards of their encampment. 
In returning to Sesheke he heard of a lion being killed by 
the bite of a serpent. Animals were frequently the victims 
of poisonous snakes, but he seldom heard of their attacking 
human beings. While the Makololo generally accepted the 
leading truths of Christianity, there were some habits and 
superstitions which it was found difficult to shake. The 
belief in witchcraft and sorcery was deeply rooted. They 
said: " They needed the Book of God; but the hearts of 
black men are not the same as those of the whites. They 
had real sorcerers among them. If that was guilt which 
custom led them to do, it lay between the white man and 
Jesus, who had not given them the Book, nor favoured them 
as He had the whites." As to cattle-lifting from their 
weaker neighbours, they said, "Why should these Maka- 
laka (a term of contempt for the blacker tribes) possess 
cattle if they cannot fight for them ! " The pithy border 
creed — 

"... the good old rule 
Sufficeth them, the simple plan, 

That they should take who have the power, 
And they should keep who can," 

— was universally understood in its naked simplicity; and 
despite their general ignorance they could reason very 
ingeniously. The cattle they took from neighbouring tribes 
were in all likelihood the descendants of cattle which at an 
earlier period had belonged to themselves ; how, therefore, 



LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



could it be a sin, they argued, to take back what was their 
own ? We question whether any border cattle-lifter of the 
seventeenth century could have given a better reason for his 
cattle-stealing proclivities than this ! 

The party " met a venerable warrior, sole survivor save 
one, probably, of the Mantatee host which threatened to 
invade the colony in 1824. He retained a vivid recollection 
of their encounter with the Griquas. * As we looked at the 
men and horses puffs of smoke arose, and some of us dropped 
down dead ! Never saw anything like it in all my life — a 
man's brains lying in one place and his body in another ! ' 
They could not understand what was killing them ; a ball 
struck a man's shield at an angle, knocked his arm out of 
joint at the shoulder, and leaving a mark or burn, as he 
said, on the shield, killed another man close by. We saw 
the man with his shoulder still dislocated. Sebituane was 
present at the fighting, and had an exalted opinion of the 
power of white people ever afterwards." 



CHAPTER XI. 



RETURN JOURNEY— ARRIVAL AND DEATH OP MRS. LIVINGSTONS 
— DR. LIVINGSTONE RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 

HE party left Sesheke on the 17th of September 
1860 on their return journey to Kongone, at 
the mouth of the Zambesi, Leshore and Pit- 
sane (the latter the factotum of Dr. Living- 
stone in his journey to and from Loanda), and several 
Batoka men being sent with them to aid them in their 
journey, and bring the merchandise left at Tete, and a 
supply of medicine for Sekeletu, who was then nearly cured 
of his loathsome complaint. Although he and his people 
were suffering from famine, Sekeletu had been generous in 
his treatment of Dr. Livingstone and his companions, and 
when they left he gave them six oxen for their support 
until they reached the country below the falls, where food 
was more abundant. The party passed down the valley of 
the Zambesi, sometimes by land and sometimes in canoes — 
the latter being either bought or borrowed, or freely loaned 
for their use without reward, according to the friendly or 
unfriendly character of the proprietors. 

At the Mburuma Rapids the party had a striking in- 
stance of the presence of mind and devotion of the Mako- 
lolo. "While passing the most dangerous of the rapids, the 
two canoes filled with water, and were in danger of being 
swamped, when of course the whole party must inevitably 
have perished. Two men, without a moment's hesitation, 
leaped out of each of the canoes, and ordered a Batoka 
man to do the same, as "the white men must be saved." 
M I cannot swim," said the Batoka. " Jump out, then, and 




ig6 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



hold on to the canoe % " Swimming alongside, they guided 
the canoes down the swift current to the foot of the rapid, 
and then ran them ashore to bale them out. 

The party arrived safely at Tete on the 23 rd of Novem- 
ber, after an absence of a little over six months. The two 
English sailors had enjoyed excellent health, and behaved 
themselves admirably during the absence of the party. 
Their gardening operations turned out a failure. A hippo- 
potamus had paid the garden a visit and eaten up all the 
vegetables, and the sheep they had ate up the cotton when 
it was in flower, the crocodiles devoured the sheep left 
with them, and two monkeys they purchased ate the eggs 
of the fowls, and in turn the natives relieved them of all 
care of the latter by landing on the island during the night 
and stealing them. They were more successful in bargain- 
ing with the natives for food; their purchases were all 
made on board the steamer, and when more was demanded 
than the market price they brought a chameleon out of the 
cabin, an animal of which the natives have a mortal dread, 
and thus settled the matter at once by clearing the deck of 
the exorbitant traders. 

Starting for the mouth of the Kongone, where they ex- 
pected to meet some English cruisers with supplies, and the 
new steamer they had ordered, they were compelled to 
abandon the Ma-Robert^ as she would keep afloat no longer. 
They reached the mouth of the Kongone on the 4th of 
January 1861, and found that the Portuguese had erected a 
custom-house there, and also a hut for a black lance-corporal 
and three men. The party took up their quarters in the 
custom-house. The soldiers were suffering from hunger. 
The provisions of Dr. Livingstone's party were also becom- 
ing exhausted, but as large herds of water-bucks were found 
in a creek between the Kongone and East Luabo, they were 
not put to any serious strait during the month they waited 
for the arrival of a ship. From drinking the brackish 



RETURN JOURNE Y. 197 

water and eating the fresh pasturage, which is saline near 
the coast, the flesh of the antelopes was much sweeter and 
more tender than in the interior, where it is so dry and 
tough that the natives, who are not over fastidious, refuse 
to eat it for any length of time. The eggs of the pelican 
and the turtle were found in abundance, and, together with 
several varieties of fish, assisted in giving variety to their 
limited cuisine. 

On the 31st of January their new ship, the Pioneer, 
anchored outside the bar, but owing to the state of the 
weather she did not venture in until the 4th of February. 
Shortly after two of H.M. cruisers arrived, bringing with 
them Bishop Mackenzie and the Oxford and Cambridge 
Missions to the tribes of the Shire and Lake Nyassa. The 
mission consisted of six Englishmen and five coloured men 
from the Cape ; and as Dr. Livingstone and his party were 
under orders to explore the Rovuma, about seven hundred 
miles to the north of the Zambesi, and beyond Portuguese 
territory, they were somewhat at a loss what to do with 
them. If they acceded to Bishop Mackenzie's wishes, and 
conveyed them at once to Chibisa's village on the Shire, and 
left them there, they dreaded that, as they had no medical 
attendant, they might meet the fate of Mr. Helmore and 
his party at Linyanti. It was at last arranged that the 
bishop should, after accompanying his companions as far as 
Johanna, where they would await his return with ELM. 
Consul, Mr. Lumley, go with the expedition on board the 
Pioneer to the Rovuma, in the hope that by this route 
access might be found to Lake Nyassa and the valley of the 
Shire. 

The Pioneer anchored in the mouth of the Rovuma on 
25th of February, which they found to have a magnificent 
natural harbour and bay. They sailed up the river for 
thirty miles, through a hilly and magnificently wooded 
country, but were compelled to return as the river was 



198 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



rapidly fallen in volume, and they were afraid that the ship 
might ground altogether, and have to lie there until the next 
rainy season. 

In a letter to Sir Roderick Murchison, Dr. Livingstone 
gives a graphic account of the Rovuma River and the 
difficulties attending the navigation :— 

" The bed of the river is about three-quarters of a mile 
wide. It is flanked by a well-wooded table-land, which 
looks like ranges of hills five hundred feet high. Sometimes 
the spurs of the high land come close to the water, but 
generally there is a mile of level alluvial soil between them 
and the bank. So few people appear at first it looked like 
a 1 land to let ; ' but having walked up to the edge of the 
plateau, considerable cultivation was met with, though to 
make a garden a great mass of brushwood must be cleared 
away. The women and children fled ; but calling to a man 
not to be afraid, he asked if I had any objection to ' liquor 
with him,' and brought a cup of native beer. There are 
many new trees on the slopes, plenty of ebony in some places, 
and thickets of brushwood. The whole scenery had a light- 
gray appearance, dotted over with masses of green trees, 
which precede the others in putting on new foliage, for 
this may be called our winter. Other trees shewed their 
young leaves brownish-red, but soon all will be gloriously 
green. Further up we came to numerous villages perched 
on sand-banks in the river. They had villages on shore too, 
and plenty of grain stowed away in the woods. They did 
not fear for their victuals, but were afraid of being stolen 
themselves. We passed through them all right, civilly 
declining an invitation to land at a village where two human 
heads had been cut off. A lot of these river pilots then 
followed us till there was only a narrow passage under a 
high bank, and there let drive their arrows at us. We 
stopped and expostulated with them for a long time, then 
got them to one of the boats, and explained to them how 



THE ROW MA RIVER. 



199 



easily we could drive them off with our rifles and revolvers, 
but we wished to be friends, and gave them thirty yards of 
calico in presents in proof of friendship. All this time we 
were within forty yards of a lot of them, armed with muskets 
and bows on the high bank. On parting as we thought on 
friendly terms, and moving on, we received a volley of 
musket-balls and arrows, four bullet holes being made in 
my sail ; but finding that we, instead of running away, 
returned the fire, they took to their heels, and left the con- 
viction that these are the border ruffians who at various 
points present obstacles to African exploration — men-stealers, 
in fact, who care no more for human life than that respect- 
able party in London who stuffed the Pioneer's life-buoys 
with old straw instead of cork. It was sore against the 
grain to pay away that calico ; it was submitting to be 
robbed for the sake of peace. It cannot be called ' black- 
mail,' for that implies the rendering of important services 
by Arabs; nor is it 'custom dues.' It is robbery per- 
petrated by any one who has a traveller or trader in his 
power, and when tamely submitted to, increases in amount 
till wood, water, grass, and every conceivable subject of 
offence is made occasion for a fine. On our return we 
passed quietly through them all, and probably the next 
English boat will be respected. Beyond these ITakonde all 
were friendly and civil, laying down their arms before they 
came near us. Much trade is carried on by means of canoes, 
and we had the company of seven of these small craft for 
three days. They bring rice and grain down to purchase 
salt. When about sixty miles up, the table-land mentioned 
above retires, and we have an immense plain with detached 
granite rocks and hills dotted over. Some rocks then 
appear in the river, and at last, at our turning point, the 
bed is all rocky masses, four or five feet high, with the 
water rushing through by numerous channels. The canoes 
go through with ease, and we might have taken the boats 



zoo LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



up also, but we were told that further up the channels were 
much narrower, and there was a high degree of probability 
that we should get them smashed in coming down. 

"We were on part of the slave-route from the Lake 
Nyassa to Quiloa (Kilwa), about thirty miles below the 
station of Ndonde, where that route crosses the Rovuma, 
and a little further from the confluence of the Liende, 
which, arising from the hills on the east of the Lake Nyassa, 
flows into the Rovuma. It is said to be very large, with 
reeds and aquatic plants growing in it, but at this time only 
ankle-deep. It contains no rocks till near its sources on the 
mountains, and between it and the lake the distance is 
reported to require between two and three days. At the 
cataracts where we turned there is no rock on the shore, as 
on the Zambesi, at Kebra-basa, and Murchison's Cataracts. 
The land is perfectly smooth, and as far as we could see the 
country presented the same flat appearance, with only a few 
detached hills. The tsetse is met with all along the Rovuma, 
and the people have no cattle in consequence. They pro- 
duce large quantities of oil-yielding seeds, as the sesame, or 
gerzelin, and have hives placed on the trees every few miles. 
We never saw ebony of equal size to what we met on this 
river ; and as to its navigability, as the mark at which water 
stands for many months is three feet above what it is now, 
and it is now said to be a cubit lower than usual, I have no 
doubt that a vessel, drawing when loaded about eighteen 
inches, would run with ease many months of the year. 
Should English trade be established on the Lake Nyassa, 
Englishmen would make this their outlet rather than pay 
dues to the Portuguese. 

"We return to put our ship on Nyassa, by the Shire, 
because there we have the friendship of all the people, 
except that of the slave-hunters. Formerly we found the 
Shire people far more hostile than are the Makonde of 
Rovuma, but now they have confidence in us, and we in 



CREW PROSTRATED BY FEVER. 201 



them. To leave them now would be to open the country 
for the slave-hunters to pursue their calling therein, and we 
should be obliged to go through the whole process of gaining 
a people's confidence again." 

Soon after reaching the sea, fever prostrated the bulk of 
the crew, and the command and navigation of the ship de- 
volved upon Dr. Livingstone, who was quite equal to the 
occasion. He drily remarks : " That the habit of finding 
the geographical positions on land renders it an easy task 
to steer a steamer, with only three or four saik set, at sea ; 
when, if one does not run ashore, no one follows to find out 
an error, and where a current affords a ready excuse for 
every blunder." After calling at Johanna for the bishop's 
friends, they sailed for the mouth of the Zambesi, and 
steamed up that river to the Shire, up which they ascended 
as far as Ohibisa's village, the ship being dragged over the 
shallows with extreme difficulty. She drew five feet of 
water, which rendered her quite useless for the navigation 
during the dry season of either of the three great rivers 
which flowed through the tract of country they were accre- 
dited to. 

On arriving at Ohibisa's they learned that war was raging 
in the Manganja country, and that on the following day a 
slave party, on its way to Tete, would pass through the 
village. " Shall we interfere 1 " was the question asked of 
each other. On the one hand, there was the risk to be run, 
if they did, of irritating the authorities at Tete, where the 
principal portion of the private baggage of the party was 
stored, and which might be confiscated in retaliation. On 
the other hand, Dr. Livingstone and the whole party were 
indignant that his steps should be followed by slave parties 
who had never entered the country before, and called them- 
selves his children and followers, while they extended the 
range of the accursed traffic which he had gone through so 
much privations to put down. The decision, as might have 



202 - LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



been expected, was that they should run all risks, and do 
what they could to stop the traffic. This is Dr. Living- 
stone's account of what followed : — 

"A long line of manacled men and women made their 
appearance ; the black drivers, armed with muskets and 
bedecked with various articles of finery, marched jauntily 
in the front, middle, and rear of the line, some of them 
blowing exultant notes out of long tin horns. They seemed 
to feel that they were doing a very noble thing, and might 
proudly march with an air of triumph. But the instant the 
fellows caught a glimpse of the English, they darted off like 
mad into the forest — so fast, indeed, that we caught but a 
glimpse of their red caps and the soles of their feet. The 
chief of the party alone remained, and he, from being in 
front, had his hand tightly grasped by a Makololo! He 
proved to be a well-known slave of the late commandant at 
Tete, and for some time our own attendant while there. 
On asking him how he obtained these captives, he replied 
he had bought them ; but on our inquiring of the people 
themselves, all save four said they had been captured in 
war. While this inquiry was going on he bolted too. The 
captives knelt down, and in their way of expressing thanks, 
clapped their hands with great energy. They were thus 
left entirely in our hands, and knives were soon at work 
cutting women and children loose. It was more difficult to 
cut the men adrift, as each had his neck in the fork of a 
stout stick, six or seven feet long, and kept in by an iron 
rod, which was rivetted at both ends across the throat. 
With a saw, luckily in the bishop's baggage, one by one the 
men were sawn out into freedom. The women, on being 
told to take the meal they were carrying and cook breakfast 
for themselves and the children, seemed to consider the 
news too good to be true ; but after a little coaxing went at 
it with alacrity, and made a capital fire by which to boil 
their pots with the slave sticks and bonds, their old 



HORRORS OF SLA VER Y. 



203 



acquaintances through many a sad night and weary day. 
Many were mere children, about four years of age and 
under. One little boy, with the simplicity of childhood, 
said to our men, ' The others tied and starved us ; you cut 
the ropes and tell us to eat. What sort of people are you ? 
where do you come from \ 1 Two of the women had been 
shot the day before for attempting to untie the thongs. . . . 
One woman had her infant's brains knocked out because she 
could not carry her load and it ; and a man was despatched 
with an axe because he had broken down with fatigue." 

The number liberated was eighty-four in all, and on being 
told that they were at liberty to go where they pleased, or 
remain with the mission, they chose the latter. During 
several days following many more captives were liberated, 
their drivers running from before the faces of the white men. 
Months afterwards, at Tete, several merchants, all of whom 
were engaged in the slave trade, remarked to Dr. Living- 
stone that he had released some of the governor's slaves, to 
which he replied that he had liberated several groups of 
slaves in the Manganja country ; and this was all that 
passed in regard to the transaction. 

Leaving the rescued slaves, the party started to visit the 
Ajawa people, who were carrying war and slavery among 
the Manganja, and came upon them in the act of sacking 
and burning a village where Dr. Livingstone and his friends 
had been previously entertained by the peaceful inhabitants, 
so many of whom were then engaged in weaving cotton that 
they had jestingly called it " the Paisley of the hills," After 
engaging with the bishop in fervent prayer, the party ad- 
vanced to demand a parley. The poor Manganja, seeing 
them, shouted out, "Our Chibisa is come;" Chibisa being 
well known as a great general and conjurer. The Ajawa 
ran off yelling, " War ! war ! " and refused to listen to them; 
but rallying and forming themselves into a body, they began 
to shoot at them with their poisoned arrows, until the party 



z<H LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



were reluctantly compelled in self-defence to fire upon their 
assailants, who fled, shouting back that they would follow 
and kill them while they slept. This was the first occasion 
on which, in all his wanderings, Dr. Livingstone had felt 
compelled to use force \ and it was with sad hearts that he 
and his companions returned to the village they had left in 
the morning, having failed in their attempt at conciliation, 
and having been compelled reluctantly to take a step which 
might subject them to much blame and misconstruction at 
the hands of lukewarm friends and the secret enemies of 
the cause they had at heart. 

As the bishop had made up his mind to settle among the 
Manganja at Magomero, he felt naturally indignant at the 
idea of the people in his charge being swept away into 
slavery in hordes, and proposed that they should at once 
follow the triumphant Ajawa and drive them out of the 
country, and liberate the captives they might have in their 
possession. All were in favour of this course save Dr. 
Livingstone, who saw clearly what would be the result if 
a Christian missionary took such a step as this, and he 
cautioned them not in any circumstances to interfere by 
force in any of these wars, even although called upon by 
the Manganja to go to their assistance in their extremity. 
It is necessary to mention this, because many people ignor- 
antly blamed Dr. Livingstone for having given him different 
counsel. The site chosen for the mission settlement was on 
a small promontory formed by the windings of the little 
clear stream called the Magomero. It was completely sur- 
rounded by stately trees. The weather was delightful, and 
provisions were cheap and abundant ; and when Dr. Living- 
stone and his friends left them to proceed to Lake Nyassa, 
the bishop had commenced to learn the languages, Mr. 
"Waller was busy superintending the building operations, 
and Mr. Scudamore was getting together the members of an 
infant school They were full of hope and ardour, and saw 



DISASTROUS END OF THE MISSION. 



205 



nothing before them but success in the noble work they had 
sacrificed home and comfort to carry out. 

The disastrous end of the mission may as well be told 
here. After labouring for some time with much acceptation 
among the neighbouring tribes, and being anxious to dis- 
cover a nearer route to the Shire, Messrs. Proctor and 
Scudamore, with a number of Manganja carriers, left in 
December to explore the country for a new route. Their 
guides misled them, and they found themselves in a slave- 
trading village, where the threatening aspect of the people 
boded mischief. Warned by a woman that if they slept 
there they would be all killed, they prepared to leave, when 
the Anguro followed, shooting their arrows at the retreating 
party. Two of the carriers were taken prisoners, and the 
two missionaries, barely escaping with their lives, swam 
a deep river, and made their way with great difficulty 
to Magomero, where they arrived exhausted with their 
exertions. 

The wives of the two carriers pleaded with the bishop 
that as their husbands had been made captive in his service, 
he should rescue them from slavery. It appeared to him to 
be his duty to do this, and on asking the Makololo who 
had remained with him to assist in the expedition, they joy- 
fully assented, as they held the prowess of the natives of the 
district in contempt, and knew of no better way of settling 
a difference with them than by a resort to force. There 
can be no doubt that had the bishop given them leave to do 
as they pleased, they would have cleared the country of the 
offenders; but he restrained them, which gave the delin- 
quents an opportunity of escaping. The offending village 
was burned, and a few sheep and goats taken. The head- 
man being afraid to retain the captives any longer, liberated 
them, and they returned to their homes. As this expedition 
was undertaken during the rainy season, and the missionaries 
got frequently wet, their health was seriously affected, 



206 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



On the 6th of August 1861 Drs. Livingstone and Kirk, 
and Mr. Charles Livingstone, started for Nyassa with a 
light four-oared gig, attended by a white sailor and a score 
of natives. They found no difficulty in hiring people to 
carry the boat from village to village, and as they had the 
means of crossing the streams they met with, were quite 
independent of the humours of the various chiefs and head- 
men with whom on previous occasions they had had to bargain 
for being transferred across the streams. The course of the 
river was followed closely, so as to avail themselves of the 
still reaches between the rapids for sailing, and when they 
had passed the last of them they launched their boat for 
good on the Shire. The upper portion of the river is so 
broad and deep that it is roughly spoken of by the natives 
as a portion of the lake. At one point in the upper reaches 
of the river Lake Shirwa is only a day's journey distant, and 
within a recent period they must have been connected. The 
native land party, which they had sent forward to join them 
above the rapids, passed thousands of Manganja living in 
temporary huts, who had been compelled to fly before the 
bloodthirsty Ajawa. 

At no place in Africa had Dr. Livingstone found the 
population so dense as on the shores of Nyassa. In some 
parts there was almost one unbroken succession of villages, 
and the inhabitants lined the shore of every bay, looking in 
wonder on a boat when propelled by sails. Whenever they 
landed they were the objects of untiring curiosity. The 
people are industrious agriculturists and fishers, and appeared 
to enjoy plenty of everything. No fines or dues were 
extracted from the explorers nor presents demanded. The 
northern dwellers on the lake during a portion of the year 
reap a singular harvest. At the proper season clouds as of 
smoke from burning grass hang over the lake and the adjacent 
country. These clouds are formed of countless myriads of 
minute midges or gnats s and are called by the natives Tcungo^ 



ACCOUNT OF LAKE NYASSA. 207 



which means a cloud or fog. The natives gather these 
insects by night, and boil them into thick cakes, which they 
eat as a relish to their vegetable food. 11 A hwngo cake an 
inch thick, and as large as the blue-bonnet of a Scotch 
ploughman, was offered to us ; it was very dark in colour, 
and tasted not unlike caviare, or salted locusts." 

The lake swarmed with fish, which the native fishermen 
catch in nets and basket traps with hook and line. The 
principal fish, called the sawjika, a kind of carp, grows to a 
length of two feet. Its flesh was delicious, better than that 
of any fish the party had tasted in Africa. Fine watermen 
as the Makololo were, they frankly confessed that the lake 
fishermen were their superiors in daring and skill. 

Their fishing-nets were formed from the fibres of the 
buaze^ and their clothes were manufactured from cotton 
grown by themselves, or from the fibres of the bark of a tree 
which is abundant in the district. The fishermen presented 
the party with fish, while the agricultural members of the 
community gave food freely. The chief of the northern 
parts, a tall handsome man named Marenga, gave them 
largely of food and beer. " Do they wear such things in 
your country?" he asked, pointing to his iron bracelet, 
which was studded with copper and highly prized. The 
doctor said he had never seen such in his country, whereupon 
Marenga instantly took it off and presented it to him, and 
his wife also did the same with hers. On the return of the 
party he tried to induce them to spend a day with him 
drinking beer, and when they declined he loaded them with 
provisions. 

The following account of Lake Nyassa, and the people on 
its shores and their habits, is extracted from a letter 
addressed by Mr. Charles Livingstone to Sir Roderick 
Murchison in January 1862 : — 

" Never before in Africa have we seen anything like the 
dense population of Lake Nyassa, especially in the south, 



268 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



In some parts there seemed to be an unbroken chain of 
villages. On the beach of well-nigh every little sandy bay 
black crowds were standing gazing at the novel spectacle of 
a boat under sail, and whenever we landed we were 
surrounded in a few seconds by hundreds of men, women, 
and children, who had hastened to stare at the * chiromba, , 
or wild animals. To see the animals feed was the great 
attraction. Never did zoological society's lions draw a tithe 
of such multitudes. They crowded round us at meal times, 
a wilderness, an inpenetrable thicket of negroes, looking on 
with the deepest apparent interest. The zeal they manifested 
in order to witness the whole procedure was more amusing 
than agreeable. The smell of black humanity, in a state of 
perspiration, is not pleasant while one is eating. 

"They cultivate the soil pretty extensively, and grow 
large quantities of sweet potatoes, as well as rice, maize, 
native corn, &c, but in the north manioc was the staple 
product, and with fish kept till they attain a high flavour, 
constituted the principal food of the inhabitants. 

" Perhaps the first impression one receives of the men is 
that they are far from being industrious — in fact are down- 
right lazy. During the day groups are seen lying asleep 
under the shady trees, and appearing to take life remarkably 
easy. But a little further acquaintance modifies first im- 
pressions, as it leads to the discovery that many of the 
sleepers work hard by night. In the afternoon they 
examine and mend their nets, place them in the canoes, 
and paddle off, frequently to distant islands or other good 
fishing-grounds, and during a large portion of the night 
the poor fellows are toiling, passing much of the time in 
the water dragging their nets. Many men and boys are 
employed in gathering the buaze, preparing the fibre, and 
making it into long nets. When they come for the first 
time to gaze at suspicious-looking strangers, they may, with 
true African caution, leave their working materials at home, 



EXTENT OF THE SLAVE TRADE. 



From the nnmber of native cotton cloths worn in many 
villages at the south end of the lake, it is evident that a 
goodly nnmber of busy hands must be constantly at work. 
An extensive manufacture of bark-cloth also is ever going 
on from one end of the lake probably to the other, and 
much toil and time are required before the bark becomes 
soft and fit to wear. A prodigious amount of this bark- 
cloth is worn, indicating the destruction of an immense 
number of trees every year." 

On the northern shore of the lake the Mazitu had settled, 
and were carrying on the slave trade with terrible rigour, 
sweeping away the helpless people like sheep. They had 
frequently attacked Marenga and his people ; but the 
thickets and stockades around their villages enabled the 
bowmen to pick off the Mazitu in security, and they were 
driven off Many of the Mazitu were settled on islands in 
the lake, from which they emerged to plunder and make 
captive the peaceful inhabitants on the shores of the lake. 
Long tracts of country were passed through where "the 
population had all been swept away; ruined villages, broken 
utensils, and human skeletons, met with at every turn, told 
a sad tale of ' man's inhumanity to man.' The extent of 
the trade done in slaves in the Nyassa district may be 
gathered from the fact that nineteen thousand slaves alone 
pass through the custom-house of the island of Zanzibar ; 
and those taken out of the country form only a small 
section of the sufferers, as many thousands more are slain 
in the slave raids, and die of famine after having to fly 
from their homes." The exploration of the lake extended 
from the 2nd of September to the 26th of October 1861, 
and was abandoned for a time because they had expended 
or lost the most of their goods. The party frequently 
suffered from the want of flesh meat, although from 
the great size of the game they had much more than 
they could use, in which case the natives gladly accepted 

14 



LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



the surplus. On one occasion they killed two hippo- 
potami and an elephant, " perhaps in all some eight or 
ten tons of meat, and two days after they ate the 
last of a few sardines for dinner." The wretched and 
ruined Manganja, although all their sufferings were caused 
by the demand for human flesh, sold each other into slavery 
when they had a chance. In speaking of a native of this 
tribe who sold a boy he had made captive in a hostile raid, 
Dr. Livingstone notes his "having seen a man who was 
reputed humane, and in whose veins no black blood flowed, 
parting for the sum of £4 with a good-looking girl, who 
stood in a closer relationship to him than the boy to the 
man who excited our ire ; and she being the nurse of his 
son besides, both son and nurse made such a pitiable wail 
for an entire day that the half-caste who had bought her 
relented, and offered to return her to the white man, but in 
vain." It is so long since our Government washed its 
hands at an immense cost of this iniquitous traffic, and it 
expends so much annually to put it down on the coast of 
Africa, that the knowledge that such things can be done 
by civilised men comes with a shock upon us. Surely the 
wonderful trials Dr. Livingstone has come through in his 
campaign against this detestable traffic will not have been 
suffered in vain, and the knowledge of such crimes against 
our common humanity will be the prelude to their utter 
extinction ! 

Arriving at the village at the foot of the cataracts, the 
party found it in a much more flourishing condition than 
when they passed up. A number of large huts had been 
built, and the people had a plentiful stock of cloth and 
beads. The sight of several fine large canoes, instead of 
the old leaky ones which lay there before, explained the 
mystery — the place had become a crossing-place for the 
Blaves on their way to Tete. Well might the indignant 
members of the expedition say that "nothing was more 



DEATH OF MRS. LIVINGSTONE. 211 



disheartening than the conduct of the Manganja, in profit- 
ing by the entire breaking up of their nation." 

The party reached the ship on the 8th of November, 
and on the 14th Bishop Mackenzie and Mr. Burrup, who 
had only just joined him, visited them. As they started on 
their downward voyage they "gave and received three 
hearty English cheers as they went to the shore and we 
steamed off" This was the last they saw of these devoted 
men, as they soon after perished in the manner already 
related. The ship having run aground about twenty miles 
below Ohibisa's, they were detained five weeks until the 
river rose sufficiently to float her off; and during their de- 
tention the carpenter's mate, a fine healthy young English- 
man, died of fever, being the first death of a member of 
the expedition, although they had been three years and a 
half in the country. 

Sailing down the Zambesi, they anchored in the Great 
Luabo mouth of the Zambesi, and on the 30th of Decem- 
ber H.M.S. Gorgon arrived, towing the brig which brought 
Mrs. Livingstone, Miss Mackenzie, and Mrs. Burrup; the 
former had come out to join her husband, while the latter 
were on their way to join their friends at Magomero, where 
they arrived too late to see them alive. 

The progress of the Pioneer with the party, and a portion 
of the sections of the Lady Nyassa, a vessel which Living- 
stone had had specially built for river navigation in pieces 
of a size which one man could carry on land, was so dis- 
tressingly slow, in consequence of the machinery having 
been allowed to get out of order, that Livingstone and his 
friends determined to land and put the pieces of the Lady 
Nyassa together at Shupanga, while Captain Wilson, Dr. 
Kirk, and Dr. Ramsay, and Mr. Sewell of the Gorgon, and 
the mission party, went forward in the gig of that ship. 

During the unhealthy season several of Dr. Livingstone's 
party suffered from fever, and about the middle of April 



212 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Mrs. Livingstone was prostrated by that disease, and 
notwithstanding that she received every attention which 
affection and skill could render, she died on the 27th of that 
month, and was buried on the following day under th/3 
shadow of a giant baobab-tree, the Rev. James Stewart, 
who had shortly before come out to inquire into the 
practicability of establishing a mission in connection with 
the Free Church of Scotland, reading the burial service. 
The gallant seamen of the Gorgon mounted guard for 
several nights over her last resting-place. It is impossible 
not to sympathise with the stricken husband, who thus lost 
the wife of his early years, who had shared in so many of 
his trials and difficulties, just when he was re-united to her 
after a separation of four years. Beloved and revered as 
she was by white men as well as by black, the party who 
stood under the wide-spreading branches of the baobab-tree 
must have been a sad and melancholy one. One comfort- 
ing reflection there was — she died among dear and loving 
friends, and not alone among savages, like Bishop Mackenzie 
and Mr. Burrup, the knowledge of whose death was so 
soon to overwhelm with grief the two companions of her 
voyage out, who little dreamed when they sorrowed for her 
that the dear ones they had come so far to see had already 
been consigned to the grave by savage, although friendly hands. 

When the Lady Nyassa was put together at Shupanga, 
she was launched in the presence of a large assemblage of 
natives, who had come from far and near to witness it. 
They could not believe that being of iron she would float, 
and their astonishment was great when they saw her glide 
lightly and gracefully into the water. The figure-head, 
which was the head and bust of a female, was pointed to 
as a wonderful work of art. As it was now well on in 
June, and the river was at its lowest, it would be impossible 
to sail up the river until December. The party proceeded 
in the Pioneer to Johanna to obtain a supply of provisions 



EXPLORATION OF THE ROVUMA. 213 



and other requisites, and some draught oxen to carry the 
sections of the Lady Nyassa past the Murchison Cataracts. 
Mr. Lumley, H.M.'s Consul at Johanna, forwarded their 
v iews in every way, and gave them six of his own trained 
oxen from his sugar plantation. 

In the interval which must elapse before they could sail 
up the Shire, the principal members of the expedition, with 
a number of native assistants, proceeded to explore the 
Rovuma, as Dr. Livingstone was still of opinion that a 
better way to Lake Nyassa might be found by ascending 
this river but his hopes were doomed to disappointment. 
The Rovuma was found to contain a much smaller volume 
of water than many of the tributaries of the Zambesi 
Shallows were numerous, and snags formed by the sinking 
of large trees in the mud during the subsidence of the 
floods rendered the navigation difficult even for the boats 
of H.M.S. Orestes, which had been lent to the party for 
the ascent. Ninety miles from its mouth their further 
progress was arrested by a series of cataracts, and there 
was nothing for it but to return to Johanna and proceed 
to Lake Nyassa by the valley of the Shire. 

The lower part of the Rovuma valley was found to be 
very sparsely populated, and of no great breadth, the hills 
lying close to the river on either side. Sixty-five miles up 
the stream they arrived at an inhabited island, and after 
some difficulty they managed to open friendly relations with 
the natives, and purchased food from them. Here not only 
the females, but many of the young men, wore the pelele, 
or lip ring. Farther up the stream, at the temporary 
village of an armed band of slave-traders, an attempt was 
made to arrest their further progress unless a toll was paid. 
Rather than proceed to extremities, Dr. Livingstone gave 
them thirty pieces of calico, which so excited their cupidity 
that they fired a volley of musketry and poisoned arrows at 
the party, fortunately without effect. A few shots fired at 



214 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



them drove these bloodthirsty cowards into the forest, and 
secured the party from any further attack. 

The people in the neighbourhood of the cataracts were 
found to be peaceful and industrious, and friendly in their 
disposition. They are called Makoa, and are known by a 
cicatrice on the brow, in the form of a crescent, with the 
horns pointing downwards. The hills on either side of the 
river were lofty, and seemed to be the outlying spurs of a 
still wider range on either side. Coal was found in such 
circumstances as warranted the party in believing that it 
existed in abundance in the valleys. 

In January 1863 the Pioneer steamed up the Shire with 
the Lady Nyassa in tow, and she had not breasted its waters 
for many hours before the party came upon traces of the 
wholesale ravages of the notorious and bloodthirsty Mariano. 
A little more than twelve months before, the valley of the 
Shire was populous with peaceful and contented tribes ; now 
the country was all but a desert, the very air polluted by 
the putrid carcases of the slain which lay rotting on the 
plains, and floated in the waters of the river in such num- 
bers as to clog the paddles of the steamer. Once they saw 
a crocodile making a rush at the carcase of a boy, and shake 
it as a terrier dog shakes a rat, while others rushed to share 
in the meal, and quickly devoured it. The miserable in- 
habitants who had managed to avoid being slain or carried 
off into captivity were collecting insects, roots, and wild 
fruits — anything, in short, that would stave off starvation, 
in the neighbourhood of the villages where they had for- 
merly enjoyed peace and plenty. They were entirely naked, 
save for the palm-leaf aprons they wore, as everything of 
any value had been carried off by the slave-stealers. The 
sight of hundreds of putrid dead bodies and bleached skele- 
tons was not half so painful as the groups of children and 
women who were seen sitting amidst the ruins of their 
former dwellings, with their ghastly famine-stricken faces 



WITHDRAWAL OF THE EXPEDITION. 215 



and dull dead eyes. These made up such a tale of woe and 
misery that those who were dead might be deemed fortunate 
in comparison with the survivors, who instinctively clung 
to the devastated spot they had once called home, and those 
who had been led into life-long captivity. Everywhere 
dead bodies were met with. In the huts, when opened, the 
mouldering corpse was found "with the poor rags round 
the loins, the skull fallen off the pillow ; the little skeleton 
of the child, that had perished first, rolled up in a mat 
between two large skeletons." 

Mr. Thornton rejoined the party on the Shire, bringing 
with him supplies for the mission and the expedition party, 
after successfully assisting Baron Vanderdecken in a survey 
of the Kilimanjaro mountains, and the ascent of the highest 
member of the range to a height of fourteen thousand feet, 
discovering at the same time that the height above the level 
of the sea of the highest peak was twenty thousand feet. 
These mountains above eight thousand feet are covered with 
perpetual snow. His present mission was to examine the 
geology of the district in the neighbourhood of the cataracts, 
but before he had well begun his arduous labour he was 
attacked with fever, and died on the 21st of April. 

While busily making a road through the forest to con- 
nect the lower Shire with the upper, beyond the Murchison 
Cataracts, Dr. Kirk and Mr. Charles Livingstone, after re- 
peated attacks of fever and dysentery, were compelled to 
leave for England; the undaunted chief of the expedition 
remaining at his post, although he also had had a severe 
attack of fever. Before they had completed their arrange- 
ments for passing the cataracts, a despatch arrived from 
Lord John Russell, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, with- 
drawing the expedition. 

The following are extracts from Dr. Livingstone's account 
of the journey to the north-west of Lake Nyassa, in a letter 
to Sir Roderick Murchison : — 



216 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 

" The despatch containing instructions for our withdrawal, 
though dated 2nd of February, did not reach me before the 
2nd of July, when the water had fallen so low that the 
Pioneer could not be taken down to the sea. To improve 
the time, therefore, between July and the flood of Decem- 
ber, I thought that I might see whether a large river 
entered the northern end of Lake Nyassa, and at the same 
time ascertain whether the impression was true that most 
of the slaves drawn to Zanzibar, Kilwa, Iboe, and Mozam- 
bique came from the lake district. With this view I 
departed, taking the steward of the Pioneer and a few 
natives, carrying a small boat, and ascended the Shire. 
Our plan was to sail round the eastern shore and the north 
end of the lake, but unfortunately we lost our boat when we 
had nearly passed the falls of the Shire; the accident 
occuring through five of our natives trying to shew how 
much cleverer they were than the five Makololo who had 
hitherto had the management of it. It broke away from 
them in a comparatively still reach of the river, and rushed 
away like an arrow over the cataracts. Our plans after 
this had to be modified, and I resolved to make away for 
the north-west on foot, hoping to reach the latitude of the 
northern end of the lake without coming in contact with 
the Mazitu, or Zulus. 

" We soon came to a range of mountains running north 
and south, rising about six thousand feet above the level of 
the sea. The valley on the eastern base was two thousand 
feet above the sea, and was of remarkable beauty — well 
supplied with streams of delicious cold water. This range 
forms the edge of the high table-land (called Beza) on 
which the Maravi dwell. We were, however, falsely told 
that no people lived on the other side, and continued our 
course along the valley until we came out at the heel of the 
lake — th& bold mountainous promontory of Cape Maclear 
on our right, and the hills of Tsenga in front of us. Again 



HINDRANCES IN THE WA Y. 



217 



starting off towards the north-west, we came to a stockade 
which the Mazitu, or other natives pretending to be of this 
tribe, had attacked the day before, and we saw the loath- 
some relics of the fight in the shape of the dead bodies of 
the combatants. Wishing to avoid a collision with these 
people, we turned away towards the north-east until we 
again came to the lake, and marched along its shores to 
Kota-Kota Bay (lat. 12° 55' south). 

11 On leaving Kota-Kota we proceeded due west. In three 
days we ascended the plateau, the eastern side of which has 
the appearance of a range of mountains. The long ascent, 
adorned with hill and dale and running streams, fringed 
with evergreen trees, was very beautiful to the eye, but the 
steep walk was toilsome, causing us to halt frequently to 
recover our breath. The heights have a delicious but pecu- 
liarly piercing air; it seemed to go through us. Five 
Shupanga men, who had been accustomed all their lives to 
the malaria of the Zambesi delta were quite prostrated by 
that, which to me, was exhilarating and bracing. We 
travelled about ninety miles due west on the great Babisa, 
Katanga, and Oazembe slave-route. 

" As we were travelling in the direction whence a great 
deal of ivory is drawn by the traders on the slave-route, 
hindrances of various kinds were put in our way. The 
European food we had brought with us was expended ; the 
people refused to sell us food, and dysentery came back on 
us in force. Moreover, our time was now expired. I was 
under explicit orders not to undertake any long journey, but 
to have the Pioneer down to the sea by the earliest flood. I 
might have speculated on a late rise in the Zambesi, but 
did not like the idea of failing in my duty, and so gave up 
the attempt to penetrate farther to the west. 

" As the steward and myself were obliged to try our best 
during the limited time at our disposal, it may be worth 
mentioning that we travelled six hundred and sixty geo- 



218 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, ^ 



graphical miles in fifty-five travelling days, averaging twelve 
miles per day in straight lines. The actual distance along 
the wavy up-and-down paths we had was of course much 
greater. The new leaves on the trees of the plateau were 
coming out fresh and green, and of various other hues, when 
we were there, and on reaching the ship on the 31st of 
October, we found all, except the evergreen ones by streams, 
as bare of leaves as in mid-winter." 

The party reached the ship early in November, and found 
those they had left there in good health. The exploring 
party had travelled nearly seven hundred miles in a straight 
line, which gave a mileage of twelve-and-a-half per day, but 
taking the windings into account, Livingstone put their rate 
of advance down at fifteen miles, a wonderful progress truly 
in an unknown country. An Ajawa chief, named Kapeni, 
waited upon them, and gratified Livingstone by saying that 
he and most of his people were anxious to receive English 
missionaries as their teachers. The effect of this was marred 
by intelligence which reached him shortly afterwards, that 
Bishop Tober (Bishop Mackenzie's successor), after a short 
stay near the mouth of the Shire, on the top of Mount 
Marambala, had determined to leave the country. In 
descending the river they heard that Mariano had died of 
debauchery some time previous. 

The Lady Nyassa steamed from Mozambique to Zanzibar, 
and as Livingstone had determined to dispose of her, he 
started in her on a voyage of two thousand five hundred 
miles for that purpose to Bombay, which he accomplished in 
safety, arriving there on the 13th of June, having left 
Zanzibar on the 16th of April ; the heroic explorer acting as 
navigator, his crew consisting of three Europeans — viz., a 
stoker, a sailor, and a carpenter, and seven native Zambesi 
men and two boys. Considering that the three European 
members of his crew were laid aside for a month each, and 
his native Zambesi men had to be taught the duties of the 



ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 



219 



ship, and that the Lady Fyassa was a tight little craft con- 
structed for lake and river navigation, the feat of sailing 
her across the Indian Ocean was not the least marvellous of 
the many daring undertakings he had successfully carried 
through. When they steamed into the harbour of Bombay, 
he says " the vessel was so small that no one noticed our 
arrival." His appearance in civilised society after such a 
fashion must have been as unexpected and wonderful as 
his turning up among the Portuguese in the west, after 
travelling from the Cape right across country through 
regions till then wholly unknown. The two native boys, 
who were about sixteen years of age, named respectively 
Wekotani and Ohumah, were left with Dr. Wilson of Bom- 
bay to be educated. This astonishing feat of seamanship— 
a voyage of two thousand five hundred miles in the Lady 
Nyassa — did not strike Livingstone as being wonderful. 

Dr. Livingstone arrived in England in July 1864, and 
busied himself with the preparation of his narrative for the 
press, and thinking over further efforts to be made for the 
amelioration of the condition of the natives of Central Africa. 
It was quite clear to him that no help in this direction must 
be looked for from the Portuguese Government, which, in 
spite of the utter valuelessness of its possessions on the east 
coast of Africa, seemed to wink at the devastation and 
depopulation of the country by slave-dealers, and threw 
every obstacle in the way of any one anxious to acquire 
information regarding the tribes bordering on their territory, 
and the possible legitimate commerce amongst them. The 
horrors Dr. Livingstone had to make us acquainted with 
then, and those which he was only telling us so recently, 
after having been lost to his country and friends for years, 
have raised such a storm of indignation throughout the 
civilised world as cannot fail to hasten the end of the 
frightful traffic in human beings which is carried on under 
the protection ol the Portuguese Aug. 



CHAPTER XII. 



STARTS A THIRD TIME FOR AFRICA — RE- ASCENDS THE ROVUMA — 
HIS REPORTED MURDER — SEARCH EXPEDITION — LETTERS 
FROM LIVINGSTONE. 

HEN Dr. Livingstone arrived in England, the 
discoveries of Captain Speke and Major Grant 
were the subject of almost universal interest 
among the intelligent public, and he had not 
been long amongst us when the enthusiasm those had 
excited, and the cravings for further knowledge of the 
regions about the head waters of the Nile, were further 
indulged by the discoveries of Sir Samuel Baker. Lakes, 
hill ranges, and populous native settlements, were slowly 
filling up the great blank patch in the centre of the vast 
continent of Africa, which for centuries had been assumed 
to be a vast sandy desert, a second and greater Sahara. 
From the known regions of Southern Africa Livingstone 
had, from his several expeditions prior to 1852, when he 
marched across the Kalahari Desert and discovered Lake 
Ngami, down to his leaving the Zambesi, on the conclusion 
of his last series of explorations, laid down rivers, lakes, 
mountain ranges, and native settlements, over a tract of 
country vastly more extensive than was ever explored by a 
single individual in the history of discovery and adventure. 
His discovery in the south, and those of his contemporary 
explorers farther to the north, had settled the fact beyond 
dispute that the centre of Africa was peopled by tribes 
mentally and industrially capable of elevation, if the iniqui- 
tous slave-trade was suppressed, and legitimate commerce 
with civilised nations introduced amongst them ; and that 




STARTS A THIRD TIME FOR AFRICA. 22I 



they inhabited regions rich in vegetable and animal life, and 
watered by magnificent rivers and streams, which filled the 
minds of thoughtful men with the hope of seeing opened, 
within a reasonable time, new corn, cattle, cotton, coffee, 
sugar, indigo, coal, and iron-producing regions of so vast an 
extent as to render the European continent independent in 
the future of the exhaustion of her present stores, through 
the demands of a population daily increasing in number 
and in wealth. 

Between Speke and Grant and Baker's discoveries, and 
Livingstone's in the south, there was still a vast tract of 
country of which little or nothing reliable was known. 
Further investigation, and a due consideration of the charac- 
ter of the newly-explored regions, led thinking men to doubt 
and question the fact that Captain Speke had traced the 
Nile to its headquarters when he watched it flow a noble 
stream from the Victoria Nyanza Lake. These doubts and 
questions soon resolved themselves into actual belief that 
the head waters of the river of Egypt must be carried as 
far southj and farther south, as some thought, than Lake 
Tanganyika. 

Dr. Livingstone had not unnaturally looked forward to a 
considerable period of rest in the bosom of his family after 
his laborious exertions during the preceding six years, but 
there was to be henceforward for him no rest on this side 
of the grave. The minds of men were drawn towards the 
unknown country between lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa, 
and there was one man on whom the eyes of all men were 
turned as its explorer. The great traveller himself, after 
he had seen his book, " The Zambesi and its Tributaries," 
through the press, had not made up his mind as to his 
future operations when he was waited upon by Sir Roderick 
Murchison. That gentleman, with all the astuteness of a 
Scotch diplomatist, did not at once ask Dr. Livingstone to 
go himself — on a new mission. 



222 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



"My dear Livingstone," he said, "your disclosures re- 
specting the interior of Africa have created a profound 
excitement in the geographical world. "We (the Geographi- 
cal Society) are of opinion that we ought to send another 
expedition into the heart of Africa to solve the problem of 
the water-shed between the Nyassa and the Tanganyika 
lakes ; for when that is settled all questions about Central 
Africa will be definitely resolved. Whom could you re- 
commend to take charge of it as a proper man 1 " 

After some reflection, Dr. Livingstone recommended a 
gentleman well known to them both. This gentleman, on 
being spoken to, would only consent to go on the under- 
standing that he would be sufficiently remunerated for his 
services. There can be only one opinion as to the pro- 
priety of the conditions on which this gentleman was willing 
to act, as it would hardly be fair to expect a man advanced 
in years to undertake a mission of such privation and diffi- 
culty without ample compensation. As the Geographical 
Society could not guarantee any pecuniary reward, that 
gentleman declined to proceed to Africa. 

Sir Roderick was much distressed at this refusal, and 
calling on Dr. Livingstone to announce the non-success of 
his efforts, he said : " Why cannot you go ! Come, let me 
persuade you. I am sure you will not refuse an old friend." 
" I had flattered myself," said Dr. Livingstone, " that I had 
much prospective comfort in store for me in my old days. 
And pecuniary matters require looking after for the sake 
of my family ; but since you ask me in that way I cannot 
refuse you." 

"Never mind about the pecuniary matters," said Sir 
Roderick. " It shall be my task to look after that ; you 
may rest assured your interests shall not be forgotten." 

At this time Dr. Livingstone's circumstances were of such 
a nature, as but for this generous offer, to give him con- 
siderable anxiety. His first book, "The Missionary Travels," 



STARTS A THIRD TIME FOR AFRICA* 223 



sold to the extent of thirty thousand copies, and in conse- 
quence returned him a large sum of money. While on the 
Zambesi, and when the second steamer, the Pioneer, sent 
out to him proved a failure, he ordered the Lady Nyassa at 
his own expense, her cost being £6000. She was lying at 
Bombay, and would be of no use in the contemplated 
journey at all. The sale of his second book, " The Zambesi 
and its Tributaries," up to the time of which we are writing, 
had not much exceeded three thousand copies, so that if he 
left for Africa and was lost to sight for several years, the 
future of his motherless children could not fail to be a 
source of anxiety to him. 

The generous offer of Sir Roderick Murchison, his old 
and tried friend, put him at his ease as to the future welfare 
of his family, and he began at once, with his usual prompti- 
tude and energy, to prepare for his departure upon what 
was to be his last expedition. Lord John Russell sent 
Mr. Hay ward, Q.O., to him, to sound him as to what he 
would like the Government to do for him. No doubt his 
lordship wished to know what honour or reward he wished 
for himself. Livingstone, quite unmindful of himself, said, 
" If you stop the Portuguese slave trade you will gratify me 
beyond measure." A second time Mr. Hay ward asked him 
if anything could be done for himself, and his answer was, 
" No, he could not think of anything." Many times when 
he was waiting in the heart of Africa for succour from the 
coast, the thought came into his mind that he had then lost 
an opportunity of providing for his children. 

Two thousand pounds were subscribed for the expedition. 
Mr. James Young, the well-known paraffin oil manufacturer, 
and a friend of Livingstone's at college, furnished £1000, 
and promised that whenever he lacked funds he would 
supply him to any amount. The Government gave £500, 
and the Royal Geographical Society subscribed a like sum. 
.As Dr. Livingstone, when he reached Bombay, sold the 



224 ZIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Lady Nyassa steamer, and placed the sum received for her 
(.£2000) in bank, to be drawn upon by him for the expenses 
of the expedition, he actually subscribed one-half the entire 
sum he believed he had at his disposal at starting. Months 
after he had passed into the interior of Africa the banker 
with whom he had deposited the money became bankrupt, 
and the whole sum was totally lost. 

Lord John Russell happily connected the expedition with 
the public service by renewing Dr. Livingstone's appoint- 
ment as ILM.'s Consul to the tribes in the interior of Africa, 
thus giving to his mission a semi-official character. 

Dr. Livingstone left England to set out on his last expe- 
dition on the 14th of August, and was accompanied to Paris 
by his eldest daughter Agnes. From Paris he went on to 
Bombay, where, having completed his arrangements, he 
proceeded to Zanzibar, accompanied by the two African 
boys (Ohumah and Wekotani) he had left with Dr. Wilson, 
a number of men from the Johanna Islands, a Sepoy 
havildar, a few enlisted Sepoys, and some Wasawahili. 
Thus accompanied, he sailed in an Arab dhow from Zanzi- 
bar on the 28th of March 1864, and landed at the mouth 
of the Rovuma after a voyage of several days. 

Early in November a letter was received from Dr. Living- 
stone, dated from Ngomano, 18th May 1866, and was the 
first communication of any importance received from him 
since he had passed into the interior. In it he says : — 

" When we could not discover a path for camels through 
the mangrove swamps of the mouth of the Rovuma, we 
proceeded about twenty-five miles to the north of that river, 
and at the bottom of Mikindany Bay entered a beautiful 
land-locked harbour called Kinday, or Pemba. 

"Our route hence was S.S.E. to the Rovuma, which we 
struck at the spot marked on the chart as that at which the 
Pioneer turned in 1861. We travelled over the same plateau 
that is seen to flank both sides of the Rovuma like a chain 



RE- ASCENDS THE ROVUMA. 225 



of hills from four to six hundred feet high. Except where 
the natives, who are called Makonde, have cleared spaces for 
cultivation, the whole country within the influence of the 
moisture from the ocean is covered with dense jungle. The 
trees in general are not large, hut they grow so closely 
together as generally to exclude the sun. In many places 
they may x»e said to be woven together by tangled masses of 
climbing-plants, more resembling the ropes and cables of a 
ship in inextricable confusion than the graceful creepers 
with which we are familiar in northern climates. 

"I am now with Machumora, the chief at Ngomano, the 
point of confluence, as the name implies, of the Rovuma 
and the Loendi. The latter is decidedly the parent stream, 
and comes from the south-west, where, in addition to some 
bold granitic peaks, dim outlines of distant highlands appear. 
Even at that distance they raise the spirits, but possibly 
that is caused partly by the fact that we are now about 
thirty miles beyond our former turning-point, and on the 
threshhold of the unknown. 

" I propose to make this my headquarters till I have felt 
my way round the north end of Lake Nyassa. If prospects 
are fair there I need not return, but trust to another quarter 
for fresh supplies, but it is best to say little about the future. 
Machumora is an intelligent man, and one well known to be 
trustworthy. He is appealed to on all hands for his wise 
decisions, but he has not much real power beyond what his 
personal character gives him." 

In the beginning of 1867 the whole civilised world was 
startled by the receipt of intelligence that Dr. Livingstone 
had been slain in an encounter with a party of Mafite or 
Mazitu, on the western side of Lake Nyassa, at a place 
called Kampunda or Mapunda. 

That Livingstone should fall by the hand of violence in 
his efforts to penetrate the interior of Africa was no unlikely 
circumstance, and the story we have rehearsed above was so 

15 



226 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



circumstantial in all its details that it was a matter of no 
surprise that many should sorrowfully accept it as true. 
But there were a good many of Dr. Livingstone's friends 
who declined to believe that the great traveller was yet 
dead— chief of whom were Sir Roderick Murchison, Messrs, 
E. D. Young and Horace Waller. 

On the 26th of January 1867 Mr. Seward sent a despatch 
to the Foreign Office which greatly tended to the fostering 
of a hope that the great traveller was not murdered, as had 
been so circumstantially asserted. 

" I have the honour," he says, " to inform you that, in 
pursuance of an intention expressed in my last despatch 
concerning the asserted death of Dr. Livingstone, I have 
personally made inquiries amongst the traders at Kilwa and 
Kiringi, and have gathered information there which tends 
to throw discredit on the statement of the Johanna men s 
who allege that they saw their leader dead. 

"The evidence of the Nyassa traders strengthens the 
suspicion that these men abandoned the traveller when he 
was about to traverse a Mazitu-haunted district, and for 
aught they knew to the contrary, Dr. Livingstone may yet 
be alive." 

The grave doubts as to the truth of the Johanna men, 
expressed by men so competent to judge as to the value of 
their evidence, communicated itself to the public, and within 
a very short space of time the hope was generally current 
that their statements were unworthy of credence. 

On the 27th of May Sir Roderick Murchison was in a 
position to intimate that Her Majesty's Government had 
agreed to co-operate with the Royal Geographical Society, 
and that an expedition was about to start for the neighbour- 
hood of Lake Nyassa, by way of the Zambesi, which would 
set at rest all doubts as to the truth or falsehood of the 
Johanna men. 

On the 25th of November letters were received from 



HIS REPORTED MURDER, 



227 



H.M.'s Consul at Zanzibar, H. A. Churchill, and Dr. Kirk, 
stating that they had heard from a native trader just 
returned from Central Africa that a white man had been 
seen in the country of Marungo, near the town of the head 
chief Katumba, and that they had hopes that this white 
man was none other than Dr. Livingstone. Early in 
December a letter was received by Mr. Webb of Newstead 
Abbey from Dr. Kirk, which may be said to have satisfied 
the public that Dr. Livingstone was alive and pushing on 
towards the north. 

The reports recorded by Dr. Kirk were further confirmed 
from other sources, and by the time that the search expedi- 
tion, under the command of Mr. E. D. Young, returned 
with the intimation that the story of Ali Moosa was a 
fabrication, concocted by him to screen the desertion of 
himself and the other Johanna men, the public were in 
the daily expectation of hearing from Dr, Livingstone 
himself. 

While putting the boat together, on the 29th of August, 
the expedition party were informed by some natives that a 
white man had been seen some time ago in Pamalombi, a 
small lake on the Shire, not far below its outlet from 
Nyassa. This traveller had a dog with him, and he had 
left there to go further in a westerly direction ! What 
could this mean ? Launching the Search on the Shire, they 
started for Lake Nyassa, the natives coming to the shore in 
hundreds to gaze upon them, and warn them of the blood- 
thirsty Mazitu who, they said, were in front. These reports 
being reiterated at every stopping-place, even the courage of 
the Makololo failed, and it was with great difficulty they 
could be got to go forward. On one occasion an immense 
concourse of spectators stood waiting their approach upon 
the right bank of the river. Most of them were armed with 
spears and bow and arrows, and seemed determined on 
hostilities, They had taken the Sewrch party for a band of 



228 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Mazita, and when they learned that there were English on 
board they became most friendly. 

On the shores of Lake Nyassa they heard of Dr. Living- 
stone having been seen, and the party had to come to the 
conclusion that " all previous calculations, all those shrewd 
ponderings and sittings of evidence at the Geographical 
Society, were put an end to by the simple narrative that fell 
from the lips of a poor native." Landing in a small bay on 
the east shore of Nyassa, they were hospitably received by 
a party of natives. The headman advanced and asked them 
if they had seen the Englishman who had been there some 
time previous. In reply to the questions of Mr. Young, 
they got a most accurate description of Dr. Livingstone, hia 
apparel, &c. ; the well-known naval cap which he wore 
being geographically described. 

The information Mr. Young received from Marenga was 
to the effect that Dr. Livingstone had stayed a day in his 
village, and that two days after his departure Moosa and 
his companions had returned to his village, giving the 
following as their reasons for having deserted him : — 

" They were merely Arabs," said they, " who had come 
across Livingstone in his wanderings, and had consented to 
help him in his undertaking ; but really there must be a 
limit to all things, and as they knew he was about to enter 
a very dangerous country, they were not justified in further 
indulging their disinterested natures in assisting a traveller, 
and having as it were torn themselves away from him with 
reluctance, they must get back to the coast." 

Further, Marenga informed him that if anything had 
happened to Dr. Livingstone, even at a long distance to the 
north, he would have heard of it, as he had tidings of his 
well-being for a month's journey from his village. As they 
had satisfactorily established the falsehood of Moosa's story, 
the object of the expedition was accomplished. 

In every respect the search expedition under Mr, Young's 



THE SEARCH EXPEDITION, 



229 



command was the most successful on record. Not only did 
they completely succeed in the object of their quest, but 
there had been no case of fever during the entire journey, 
and no accident of life or limb to record save the attack 
on John Gaitty by the elephant in the Shire. Well might 
Sir Roderick Murchison say of it : — 

"To put together a boat constructed in sections, to find a 
negro crew for the navigation of the Zambesi, to take the 
boat to pieces, and to have it carried up thirty-six miles 
along the sides of the cataracts to the river Shire — then, 
after navigating the waters of the lake until the fate of 
Livingstone was clearly ascertained, to convey her back to 
the Zambesi, and finally bring her and the party safe back 
to England without the loss of a single man — this, indeed, is 
a real triumph." 

The first accounts of his movements from Dr. Livingstone 
himself reached this country in the shape of a letter to a 
friend in Edinburgh, about the 20th of April, from which 
we make the following extracts. It is dated the country of 
the Ohipeta, which is far to the north-west of the point to 
which the search expedition traced him, and was written on 
the 10th of November 1866. " It has been quite impossible 
to send a letter coastwise ever since we left the Rovuma. 
The Arab slave-traders take to their heels as soon as they 
hear that the English are on the road. I am a perfect bug- 
bear to them. Eight parties thus skedaddled, and last of 
all my Johanna men, frightened out of their wits by stories 
told them by a member of a ninth party who had been 
plundered of his slaves, walked off and left me to face the 
terrible Mazitu with nine Nassick boys. The fear which 
the English name has struck into the slave-traders has thus 
been an inconvenience. I could not go round the north end of 
the lake for fear that my Johanna men, at the sight of danger, 
would do then what they actually did at the southern end, 
and the owner of the two dhows now on the lake kept them 



23Q LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



out of sight, lest I should burn them as slavers, and I could 
not cross in the middle. 

"January 1867. — I mention several causes of delay; I 
must add the rainy season is more potent than all, except 
hunger. In passing through the Babisa country we found 
that food was not to be had. The Babisa are great slave- 
traders, and have in consequence little industry. This seems 
to be the chief cause of their having no food to spare. The 
rains, too, are more copious than I ever saw them anywhere 
in Africa ; but we shall get on in time. February 1. — I am 
in Bemba or Loemba, and at the chief man's place, which 
has three stockades around it, and a deep dry ditch round 
the inner one. He seems a fine fellow, and gave us a cow 
to slaughter on our arrival yesterday. We are going to hold 
a Ohristmas feast of it to-morrow, as I promised the boys a 
blow-out when we came to a place of plenty. We have had 
precious hard lines, and I would not complain if it had not 
been for gnawing hunger for many a day, and our bones 
sticking through as if they would burst the skin. When 
we were in a part where game abounded, I filled the pot 
with a first-rate rifle given me by Captain Warter, but else- 
where we had but very short rations of a species of millet 
called macre, which passes the stomach almost unchanged. 
The sorest grief of all was the loss of the medicine-box 
which your friends at Apothecaries' Hall so kindly fitted 
up." Several of his attendants acting as carriers had made 
off with the box, his plates and dishes, and most of his 
powder and two guns, "This loss, with all our medicine, 
fell on my heart like a sentence of death by fever, as was 
the case with poor Bishop Mackenzie ; but I shall try native 
remedies, trusting Him who has led me hitherto to lead me 
still." From the end of July to the middle of September 
Livingstone remained at Mataka, about fifty miles from 
Nyassa on the Rovuma side. 

After the reading of Di\ Livingstone's letters to the mem- 



REMARKS BY SIR RODERICK MURCHISON, 231 



bers of the Royal Geographical Society, at a meeting held 
on the 27th of April 1868, Sir Roderick Murchison said : — 
"That the question on which Europeans and the British 
public at large were now interested was the future course 
of Livingstone, and at what time he might be expected to 
return. In the journey from the place at which he disem- 
barked, Mikindany Bay, to the south end of the Lake 
Nyassa, he occupied seven months ; but for three weeks or 
more of that time he remained at Mataka. The distance 
traversed from the coast was only five hundred miles. 
During these months people often asked in England, * Why 
does Livingstone not send us some account of his proceed- 
ings? The Sepoys have returned, but they have brought 
no despatches.' He was sorry to say that the Sepoys had 
behaved extremely ill. We had now, in Livingstone's 
handwriting, the statement that they were the worst of 
companions, inferior even to the Johanna men. He en- 
trusted to the Sepoys a despatch which they never delivered. 
The next part of Livingstone's journey, after crossing the 
Shire, was to the west and northwards, taking a circuitous 
course in order to avoid the Mazitu (called the Mavite tc 
the east of Lake Nyassa). It occupied five months, the 
date of the despatches being the 1st of February, when he 
was at Bemba. The progress made at this point would 
enable us to judge of the time he was likely to take in 
accomplishing the remainder of his journey. We now know 
that he had arrived at Ujiji, on the eastern shores of Lake 
Tanganyika, by about the middle of October last. The 
distance between Bemba and Ujiji was only five hundred 
miles ; but he was delighted to hear that the traveller had 
been so long on this part of his route, because it implied 
that he had devoted himself to examining Lake Tanganyika, 
which had never yet been explored. 

" When Burton and Speke crossed the lake in the northern 
part at Ujiji, they knew nothing of the southern part, ex- 



232 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



cept from information furnished by Arabs. If Livingstone 
found the waters flowing northwards from the neighbour- 
hood of Bemba, whence he wrote, and into Lake Tanganyika, 
he would continue his journey to the northern end. There 
would then be before him another great problem, the solu- 
tion of which would be the settlement of the geography of 
the whole interior of Africa. If, according to the theory 
of Mr. Findlay, which had been read before the society, the 
waters of Lake Tanganyika flowed into the Albert Nyanza, 
the geographical object of Livingstone's expedition would 
be accomplished. He would be upon the waters of the 
Nile, and having determined that great physical problem, 
he would probably turn to the eastward, and reach the coast 
at Zanzibar. If, on the contrary, it proved, as shewn in 
the original map of Burton and Speke, that a mountain 
range separated Tanganyika from Albert Nyanza, the out- 
flow of the waters of Tanganyika must be sought for on its 
western side; for, being fresh, these waters must have a free 
outlet in some direction. In this case, Livingstone might 
be induced to follow that river wherever he found it. It 
was known that there was no outflow to the east, because 
the country on that side had been explored, and no great 
stream found. To follow such a western outlet would lead 
him far across the great unknown western interior of 
Africa. 

"Such was Livingstone's great vigour and audacity in 
meeting every difficulty, that he had not the slightest doubt 
that he would pursue such a river, if found, and come out 
on the west coast, where his first expedition terminated, 
before he recrossed to the Zambesi. In this case, we must 
not expect to hear from him for twelve or eighteen months. 
But if, under the hypothesis, which he rather held to, 
Livingstone found the waters of the Tanganyika flowing 
into Baker's Lake (the Albert Nyanza), and turned back 
towards Zanzibar, as most probably he would do, he might 



DIFFERENT THEORIES. 



233 



be expected in England in the month of September next. 
A third hypothesis was, that having since arrived at the 
lake of Sir Samuel Baker, he would follow its waters, and 
come out by the Nile. He had dismissed that hypothesis 
from his own mind, in consequence of the small force which 
Livingstone had at his disposal, and the diminished store of 
goods for presents to give to the equatorial kings. Know- 
ing the difficulties which Speke and Grant and Baker had 
in those countries, he would pause before concluding that 
he had taken that route, particularly after he had geogra- 
phically solved the problem. Another reason which operated 
in his mind against the third hypothesis was, that Living- 
stone would have to go through the whole of the White Nile 
region, where the slave trade was carried on to an abom- 
inable extent." 

We give Sir Roderick Murchison's remarks in full, be- 
cause in them we have the different theories as to the 
course of the waters, whose northward flow Livingstone 
had struck when he had passed the hill region to the north 
and west of Nyassa. We shall see, further on, that all 
these theories were at variance with the conclusions which 
Dr. Livingstone ultimately arrived at when he found that 
the main drainage of the vast central valley did not fall 
into the Tanganyika at all, but passed it many miles to the 
west of its shores, and flowed northward into unknown 
regions. 

News reached England early in October that Livingstone 
was on his way to the coast, and was, at the time of its 
transmission, within a few miles of Zanzibar, but on the 
20th and 23rd word reached London from Dr. Kirk that 
he had letters from him dated from Marenga, a district 
south, and in the vicinity of Lake Tanganyika, in latitude 
7° 55' south, and longitude 30° east, near Ujiji, a district 
and an Arab station on Lake Tanganyika. This letter was 
very brief, and had been written in the months of October 



234 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



and December, and gave a satisfactory account for the delay 
in his progress to the north. He had been living for three 
months with friendly Arabs, and waiting for the close of a 
native war before proceeding to Ujiji, and he told the Arab 
messenger that after exploring Tanganyika he meant to 
return to Zanzibar, Dr. Kirk reported, when sending this 
information, that provisions, medicines, letters, &c, &c, had 
been sent to Ujiji to meet him some time previous to the 
receipt of his letters. 

On the 9th of November 1868 a short letter from Dr. 
Livingstone to Dr. Seward, dated " Town of Oazembe, 14th 
December 1867," was read. In this letter he said : — 

" One of Seyd Ben Ali's men leaves this to-morrow to 
join his master in Buira. He and Hamees have letters 
from me to you. One of them, in the hands of Hamees, 
repeats an order for goods, which I sent by Magera Mafupi 
in February last. If Magera Mafupi's letter came to hand, 
then the goods would be sent before the present letter can 
reach you. I have more fear of the want of shoes than 
anything else. If you have any tracing-paper I should like 
some ; I lost a good deal in fording a river ; some pencils 
and ink powder, if you can spare them, and an awl and 
stick of sealing-wax. I am going to Ujiji in two days, and 
think that I shall be able to send letters thence to Zanzibar 
sooner than my friends can reach it by Bagamoyo. 

" Moero is one chain of lakes, connected by a river, hav- 
ing different names. When we got there I thought it well 
to look at Oazembe, of which the Portuguese have written 
much ; but all the geographical information is contained in 
letters I have written, which I mean to send to Ujiji, and 
have no heart to repeat myself." 

In the letters to Dr. Seward and Dr. Kirk, which were 
of a private character, Livingstone writes in a most hopeful 
spirit as to the accomplishment of the work before him, and 
gave a most gratifying account of the state of his health. 



LIVINGSTONE'S LETTERS. 



235 



On the 18th of January 1869, a letter appeared in the 
"Times" from Horace Waller, one of Livingstone's old com- 
rades during a part of the Zambesi expedition, that from 
letters received from Dr. Kirk from Zanzibar nothing had 
been heard of Livingstone for a long time. After caution- 
ing the public to be in no anxiety on that account, he says : 
" Dr. Kirk informs me that Moosa (the chief of the Johanna 
men who deserted him) has been handed over to him at 
Zanzibar from Johanna. Finding that he had already 
passed eight months in heavy irons, the authorities very 
humanely considered this time sufficient for the reflective 
powers of the mischievous scamp to reconsider the merits 
of truth and falsehood ; so Dr. Kirk set him free." 

On the 19th of April news arrived in England that 
Livingstone had reached Zanzibar and was on his way to 
England. His old friend Sir Roderick Murchison published 
his doubts of the truth of this, and as in many other cases 
where the great traveller was concerned, the veteran geolo- 
gist was correct. A report of Dr. Livingstone having been 
murdered, and another of his being in captivity, having got 
into circulation, were causing much anxiety in the public 
mind. Sir Roderick Murchison wrote to the London "Scots- 
man" on the 6 th of September as follows. After explain- 
ing that a long time must elapse, in consequence of the 
district into which he had entered, before we could expect 
to hear from him, he says : " It is therefore, I think, un- 
necessary to have recourse to the hypothesis of his captivity, 
But whatever may be the speculations entered into during 
his absence, I have such implicit confidence in the tenacity 
of purpose, undying resolution, and herculean power of 
Livingstone, that however he may be delayed, I hold stoutly 
to the opinion that he will overcome every obstacle, and 
will, as I have suggested, emerge from South Africa on the 
same western shore on which he appeared after his first 
great march across that region n 



236 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Sir Roderick Murchison was partly right once more. 
Livingstone was not on his way home, nor thinking of it ; 
for on the 24th of October 1869 a telegram was received in 
this country to the effect that Dr. Kirk had received a 
letter from him, dated 8th July 1868, from Lake Bang- 
weolo, in which he said : "I have found the source of the 
Nile between 10° and 12° south." The great traveller 
wrote in good health and spirits, and it was cheering at the 
same time to be told that a caravan which had recently 
arrived at Zanzibar reported him at Ujiji, on Lake Tan- 
ganyika, and that the road between Zanzibar and Ujiji was 
open. 

The letter was addressed to Lord Clarendon, and was 
dated from near Lake Bangweolo, South Central Africa, 
July 1868. "We give the following extracts: — "When I 
had the honour of writing to you in February 1867, I had 
the impression that I was then on the watershed of the 
Zambesi, and either the Congo or the Nile. More extended 
observation has since convinced me of the essential correct- 
ness of that impression, and from what I have seen, together 
with what I have learned from intelligent natives, I think 
that I may safely assert that the chief sources of the Nile 
arise between 10° and 12° south latitude, or nearly in the 
position assigned to them by Ptolemy, whose River Raptita 
is probably the Rovuma. Aware that others have been 
mistaken, and laying no claim to infallibility, I do not 
speak very positively, particularly of the parts west and 
north-west of Tanganyika, because these have not yet come 
under my observation; but if your lordship will read the 
following short sketch of my discoveries, you will perceive 
that the springs of the Nile have hitherto been searched for 
very much too far north. They rise about four hundred 
miles south of the most southerly portion of Victoria Nyanza, 
and indeed south of all the lakes except Bangweolo. Leav- 
ing the valley of the Loangwa, which enters the Zambesi at 



LIVINGSTONES LETTERS, 



Zumbo, we climbed up what seemed to be a great mountain 
mass, but it turned out to be only the southern edge of an 
elevated region, which is from three thousand to six thousand 
feet above the level of the sea. This upland may roughly 
be said to cover a space south of Lake Tanganyika of some 
three hundred and fifty square miles. It is generally covered 
with dense or open forest, has an undulating, sometimes 
hilly surface, a rich soil, is well-watered by numerous rivu- 
lets, and for Africa is cold. It slopes towards the north 
and west, but I have found no part of it under three hundred 
feet of altitude. ... On the northern slope of the upland, 
and on the 2nd of April 1867, I discovered Lake Liemba. 
It lies in a hollow, with precipitous sides, two thousand feet 
down. It is extremely beautiful — sides, top, and bottom 
being covered with trees and other vegetation. Elephants, 
buffaloes, and antelopes feed on the steep slopes, while hip- 
popotami, crocodiles, and fish swarm in the waters. Guns 
being unknown, the elephants, unless sometimes deceived 
into a pitfall, have it all their own way. ... It is as per- 
fect a natural paradise as Xenophon could have desired. 
On two rocky islands men till the land, rear goats, and 
catch fish ; the villages ashore are embowered in the palm- 
oil palms of the west coast of Africa." 

After peace was declared he visited Masama, the chief of 
Itawa, and examined Lake Moero, which he found to be 
sixty miles long, and from twenty to fifty miles broad. 
From thence he visited Cazembe, and was very hospitably 
treated by the chief of that name, with whom he stayed forty 
days, on account of the rains having flooded the country 
and made progress impossible. Cazembe's town, which has 
been three times visited by Portuguese, "stands on the 
north-east bank of the lakelet Mofwe ; this is from two to 
three miles broad, and nearly four long. It has several low 
reedy islets, and yields plenty of fish — a species of perch. 
It is not connected with either the Luapula or the Moero. 



238 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



I was forty days at Oazembe, and might then have gone on 
to Bangweolo, which is larger than either of the other lakes, 
but the rains had set in, and this lake was reported to 
be very unhealthy. Not having a grain of any kind of 
medicine, and as fever without treatment produced very 
disagreeable symptoms, I thought it would be unwise to 
venture where swelled thyroid glands, known among us as 
Derbyshire neck and elephantiasis (seroli), prevail/ Getting 
tired of his inactivity, he went northwards towards Ujiji, 
" where," he says, " I have goods, and I hope letters, for I 
have heard nothing from the world for more than two years; 
but when I got within thirteen days of Tanganyika I was 
brought to a standstill by the superabundance of water in 
the country in front. A native party came through and 
described the country as inundated so as often to be thigh 
and waist-deep, with dry stepping-places difficult to find. 
This flood lasts till May or June. At last I became so 
tired of my inactivity that I doubled back on my course to 
Oazembe." His description of wading across swollen rivu- 
lets, flooded plains, and morasses, gives a vivid idea of the 
courage and resolution of the man. The paths among the 
long grass were even more trying than these. He says : — 
" The plain was of black mud, with grass higher than our 
heads. We had to follow the path, which in places the feet 
of passengers had worn into deep ruts. Into these we every 
now and then plunged, and fell over the ancles in soft mud, 
while hundreds of bubbles rushed up, and bursting, emitted 
a frightful odour. We had four hours of this wading and 
plunging ; the last mile was the worst, and right glad we 
were to get out of it and bathe in the clear tepid waters 
and sandy beach of the Moero. In going up the bank of 
the lake, we first of all forded four torrents thigh-deep; 
then a river eighty yards wide, with three hundred yards of 
flood on its west bank, so deep we had to keep to the canoes 
till within fifty yards of the higher ground ; then four brooks 



LIVINGSTONES LETTERS. 



239 



from five to fifteen yards broad. . . . Only four of my 
attendants would come here ; the others, on various pre- 
tences, absconded. The fact is, they are all tired of this 
everlasting tramping ; and so verily am I. Were it not for 
an inveterate dislike to give in to difficulties, without doing 
my utmost to overcome them, I would abscond too. I com- 
fort myself by the hope that by making the country and 
the people better known I am doing good ; and by imparting 
a little knowledge occasionally, I may be working in accord- 
ance with the plans of an all-embracing Providence, which 
now forms part of the belief of all the more intelligent of 
our race. My efforts may be appreciated in good times 
coming yet." 

After speaking of the care which he had always taken to 
give the position of places with the utmost accuracy, and 
the compliments paid to the success with which he had done 
this on the Zambesi and the Shire by scientific men, he 
says : — " Well, it is not very comforting, after all my care 
and risk of health, and even of life, it is not very inspiriting 
to find two hundred miles of lake tacked on to the north- 
west end of Nyassa, and then two hundred miles perched up 
on the upland region, and passed over some three thousand 
feet higher than the rest of the lake ! We shall probably 
hear that the author of this feat in fancyography claims 
therefrom to be considered a theoretical discoverer of the 
sources of the Nile." 

In a postscript he says : " Always something new from 
Africa. A large tribe live in underground houses in Rua. 
Some excavations are said to be thirty miles long, and have 
running rills in them — a whole district can stand a siege in 
them. The ' writings ' thereon, I have been told by some 
of the people, are drawings of animals, and not letters, 
otherwise I should have gone to see them. People very 
dark, well made, and outer angle of eyes slanting inwards." 
That Dr. Livingstone should have been able to write a 



24o LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



communication such as this, bristling with facts carefully 
detailed, under the circumstances indicated, is as wonderful 
as the resolute endurance and courage necessary to their 
collection. 

In a letter to Sir Bartle Frere, he touches upon his 
anxieties as a father completely separated from his children. 
He says : — " I am often distressed in thinking of a son whom 
I left at the University of Glasgow. He was to be two 
years there, then spend a year in Mons in Germany, for 
French and German, before trying the Civil Service examina- 
tion for India. He will now be in especial need of my 
counsel and assistance, and here I am at Bangweolo. His 
elder brother, after being well educated, wandered into the 
American war, and we know no more of him after an 
engagement before Richmond. Possibly Sir Charles Wood, 
(now Lord Halifax) in consideration of my services, might 
do something to fix this one. ... I feel more at liberty in 
telling you of my domestic anxiety, and my fears lest Tom 
should go to the examination unprepared, because you have 
a family yourself, and will sympathise with me. . . . Agnes 
(his eldest daughter) is to tell Tom not to go in for examina- 
tion till he is well prepared, and he may take a year more of 
education where he may have found the most benefit." 

The next information received from Dr. Livingstone was 
contained in a letter sent to Dr. Kirk at Zanzibar, and was 
published in the "Times" of 12th December 1869. It is dated 
Ujiji, 30th May 1869, and is as follows :— " This note goes 
by Musa Kamaals, who was employed by Koarji to drive 
the buffaloes hither, but by overdriving them unmercifully 
in the sun, and tying them up to save trouble in herding, 
they all died before he got to TJnyanyembe. He witnessed 
the plundering of my goods, and got a share of them, and I 
have given him beads and cloth sufficient to buy provisions 
for himself on the way back to Zanzibar. He has done 
nothing here. He neither went near the goods here, nor 



LIVINGSTONE'S LETTERS. 



241 



tried to prevent them being stolen on the way. I suppose 
that pay for four months in coming, other four of rest, and 
four in going back, would be ample, but I leave this to your 
decision. I could not employ him to carry my mail back, 
nor can I say anything to him, for he at once goes to the 
TJjijians, and gives his own version of all he hears. He is 
untruthful and ill-conditioned, and would hand over the 
mail to any one who wishes to destroy it The people here 
are like the Kilwa traders, haters of the English. Those 
Zanzibar men whom I met between this and Nyassa were 
gentlemen, and traded with honour. Here, as in the haunts 
of the Kilwa hordes, slavery is a source of forays, and they 
dread exposure of my letters. No one will take charge of 
them. I have got Thani bin Suelim to take a mail privately 
for transmission to Unyanyembe. It contains a cheque on 
Ritchio, Stewart & Co. of Bombay for two thousand rupees, 
and some forty letters written during my slow recovery. 1 
fear it may never reach you. A party was sent to the coast 
two months ago. One man volunteered to take a letter 
secretly, but his master warned them all not to do so, 
because I might write something he did not like. He went 
out with the party, and gave orders to the headman to 
destroy any letters he might detect on the way. Thus, 
though I am good friends outwardly with them all, I can 
get no assistance in procuring carriers ; and as you will see, 
if the mail comes to hand, I sent to Zanzibar for fifteen 
good boatmen to act as carriers if required, eighty pieces of 
meritano, forty ditto of kinitra, twelve farasales of the beads 
called jasain, shoes, (fee, &c. I have written to Seyd Majicl 
begging two of his guards to see the safety of the goods here 
into Thani bin Suelim's hands, or into those of Mohammed 
bin Sahib. 

11 As to the work done by me, it is only to connect the 
sources which I have discovered from five hundred to seven 
hundred miles south of Speke and Baker with their Nile. 

16 



242 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



The volume of water which flows from latitude 120° south 
is so large, I suspect I have been working at the sources of 
the Congo as well as those of the Nile. I have to go down 
the eastern line of drainage to Baker's turning-point. Tan- 
ganyika, Ujiji, Chowambe (Baker's) are one water, and the 
head of it is three hundred miles south of this. The western 
and central lines of drainage converge into an unvisited 
lake west or south-west of this. The outflow of this, whether 
to Congo or Nile, I have to ascertain. The people of this 
district, called Manyema, are cannibals, if Arabs speak 
truly. I may have to go there first, and down Tanganyika, 
if I come out uneaten, and find my new squad from Zan- 
zibar ; I earnestly hope that you will do what you can to 
help me with the goods and men. Four hundred pounds to 
be sent by Mr. Young must surely have come to you through 
Fleming Brothers. A long box paid for to TJjiji was left at 
Unyanyembe, and so with other boxes." 

In this letter we have the first indications of dissatisfac- 
tion with the way assistance was being sent to him by Dr. 
Kirk at Zanzibar, of which we have heard more from Mr. 
Stanley and from the traveller himself. It was natural 
that the lonely man who had not had any communication 
with the world for so long a period, and who had been 
travelling in unknown regions dependent upon chance for 
the necessities of living, should feel a bitterness at the 
want of success in relieving him. It is to be feared that he 
had good reason for his discontent. To the unsettled state 
of the country, and the dishonesty and carelessness of the 
people he employed to succour Dr. Livingstone, were due 
the failure of these efforts, and as we shall see further on, he 
failed to take the most ordinary precautions to guard against 
such failure. Dr. Kirk mentions in a note published along 
with this letter, that stores and letters had been sent on the 
7th of October, and that no time would be lost in sending 
the articles now required by the explorer. 



LETTER FROM AX ARAB CHIEF. 



243 



Once more the cloud of mystery and darkness enveloped 
the fate of the great traveller, and surmises and reports as 
to his probable fate tended towards a general belief that, in 
some unknown region in the far interior, the greatest 
traveller and discoverer the world has ever seen had become 
the most distinguished of that long roll of martyrs who had 
perished in their dauntless endeavour to penetrate the secret 
recesses of a country all but impregnably guarded by disease, 
pestilence, and the cruel jealousy of savage tribes. The 
anxiety of the public regarding the fate of the traveller was 
shared in by the Government In May 1870, £1000 was 
sent to the Consul at Zanzibar, to be expended in efforts to 
discover and relieve him. On the 25th of January 1871, 
hope was again excited that we might soon hear tidings 
from himself of a much later date than the last received, by 
the arrival of a letter to Sir Roderick Murchison from Dr. 
Kirk giving extracts from a letter received from an Arab 
chief, Sheik Said of Unyanyembe, dated 16th of July 1870. 
The chief says : " Your honoured letter has reached, and 
your friend (Livingstone) has understood it. The people 
(a party with a caravan from Zanzibar) arrived in good 
health, and are going on to Ujiji to our friend the doctor. 
The news of him i3 that he has not yet returned from 
Manemis (Menama, or Manyema, the Arabic word is spelt 
in three different ways), but we expect him soon, and pro- 
bably he and the people with supplies will reach TJjiji at 
the same time." As Sir Roderick pointed out, this was the 
first indication we had received that the explorer had made 
a lengthened journey to the west of Tanganyika, which, 
taken together with the probability that letters sent by him 
had been destroyed by jealous Arabs, accounted for his long 
silence. 

Early in May this intelligence was corroborated by the 
arrival of news from Shirif Bassheikh-bin-Ahmed, the Arab 
sent from Zanzibar and Ujiji in charge of stores for Dr. 



244 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 

Livingstone, dated 15th November 1870, that he had been 
visited a few days previously by a messenger from the 
people of Menama (or Manyema), with letters from the 
Arabs staying there, and one from " the doctor/' the letters 
being dated 15th of October. The messenger had told him 
that the doctor was well, although he had been suffering, and 
that he was at the town of Manakosa with Mohammed bin 
Tharib, waiting for the caravans, being himself without 
means, and with few followers, only eight men, so that he 
could not move elsewhere or come down to Ujiji. Shirif 
further stated that he had sent twelve men with a quantity 
j>i goods, ammunition, quinine, &c, &c, on to him, and 
that he awaited the explorer's further orders at Ujiji. 

The intelligence that a war had broken out between the 
Arab colony in the district of Unyanyembe and a powerful 
native chief between Ujiji and Kasagne, which was being 
carried on with the utmost fury on both sides, and effectually 
closed up the road to the coast, added to the public anxiety. 

In announcing to the members of the Geographical Society 
that the Council had determined to address the Foreign 
Office, asking its assistance in an effort to succour Dr. 
Livingstone, Sir Roderick Murchison said : "It appeared to 
the Council and himself, now that the hope which we had 
of communicating with Dr. Livingstone through Mr. Stan- 
ley, the American traveller, must for the present be aban- 
doned ; and it had become consequently their duty to cast 
about for some other means of reaching him." The result 
of this determination of the Council of the Royal Geogra- 
phical Society was the getting up of a formidable expedition 
to march into the interior, and find news of the great 
explorer, dead or alive. As the Government refused to 
advance any money to assist in covering the expenses of 
the expedition, it was left for the society and the public to 
furnish the means, and within a few weeks ample funds and 
an efficient party were ready to start for Africa. 



IMPATIENCE FOR NEWS. 



245 



The public waited with impatience for news from the 
great traveller himself. He had been so long lost in un- 
known and untrodden regions that they looked forward to a 
stirring narrative of new countries, new peoples, and strange 
adventures, equal to that with which he had treated them 
after his famous march across Africa in company with the 
Makololo men. A higher feeling than mere curiosity was 
at work in the public mind. The series of remarkable ex- 
plorations in Africa, commencing with that of Livingstone 
in the south in 1849, and ending with the discovery of the 
Albert Nyanza Lake by Samuel Baker, had kept that vast 
continent constantly in the foreground as a scene of dis- 
covery, and the great explorer was known to be approaching 
the ground so recently travelled by Speke, Grant, Burton, 
and Baker, the great explorers of the north and east. The 
mysterious heart of Africa was fast giving up its secrets, 
and few doubted but that the indefatigable Livingstone 
would pass through the as yet unknown lands that lay 
between the country of Cazembe and the great lake region 
of Speke and Baker. The Nile, which had been a mystery 
since the earliest dawn of civilisation, had been traced 
further and further to the south, and Livingstone, who had 
passed far to the north of the watershed of the Zambesi, 
was in the line of march which, if successfully prosecuted, 
must solve the mystery of its source and its annual floods. 
How he was to be thwarted and turned aside through the 
bungling carelessness of those responsible for the sending of 
his supplies, and how death at last was to intervene between 
him and the full accomplishment of his work, were un- 
thought of possibilities in the joy at finding that he was 
alive and well ; but they were doomed within a few short 
years to be the subject of bitter reflection to many millions 
throughout the globe. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



SHE "NEW YORK HERALD'S " EXPEDITION IN SEARCH 0? 
LIVINGSTONE — STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE AT UJIJI EX- 
PEDITION TO THE RUSIZI ARRIVE AT UNYANYEMBE 

STANLEY BIDS THE GREAT TRAVELLER FAREWELL. 

HE expedition of Mr. Stanley now claims our 
attention. In October 1869, Mr. James Gor- 
don Bennet, the proprietor of the " New York 
Herald," was in Paris, and staying at the Grand 
Hotel, when he determined on attempting to succour Dr. 
Livingstone. Among his staff of travelling correspondents 
was a Mr. Henry M. Stanley, who had represented his 
newspaper during the campaign against King Theodore in 
Abyssinia, and it struck him that this was the man who 
could find the lost traveller, if he was alive. He tele- 
graphed for him at Madrid, where he then was in the 
prosecution of his duties, and Mr. Stanley started imme- 
diately for Paris, which he reached on the following night, 
after Mr. Bennet had retired to his apartment. The inter- 
view which resulted had better be detailed in Mr. Stanley's 
own words : — 

"I went straight to the Grand Hotel and knocked at 
the door of Mr. Bennet's room. *Come in!' I heard a voice 
say. Entering, I found Mr. Bennet in bed. 

"'Who are you?' he asked. 'My name is Stanley,' I 
answered. 

" * Ah, yes ! sit down; I have important business on hand 
for you.' 

" After throwing over his shoulders his robe-de-chambre, 




"NEW YORK HERALD" EXPEDITION. 247 



Mr. Bennet asked, 'Where do you think Dr. Livingstone 
is 1 ' — ' I really do not know, sir.' 

" ' Do you think he is alive 1 ' — c He may be, and he may 
not be,' I answered. 

" ' Well, I think he is alive, and that he can be found ; 
and I am going to send you to find him.' 

" What ! ' said I, ' do you really think I can find Dr. 
Livingstone 1 ? Do you mean me to go to Central Africa 1 ?' 

" ' Yes ; I mean that you shall go, and find him wherever 
you may hear that he is, and to get what news you can of 
him, and perhaps' — delivering himself thoughtfully — 'the 
old man may be in want : take enough with you to help 
him, should he require it. Of course you will act according 
to your own plans, and do what you think best — but find 
Livingstone.' 

" Said I, wondering at the cool order of sending one to 
Central Africa to search for a man whom I, in common 
with almost all other men, believed to be dead, 'Have you 
considered seriously the great expense you are likely to 
incur on account of this little journey *? ' 

" ' What will it cost 1 ' he asked abruptly. 1 Burton and 
Speke's journey to Central Africa cost between £3000 and 
£5000, and I fear it cannot be done under £2500.' 

" ' Well, I will tell you what you will do. Draw a thou- 
sand pounds now ; and when you have gone through that, 
draw another thousand ; and when that is spent, draw 
another thousand ; and when you have finished that, draw 
another thousand ; and so on, but — find Livingstone.' 11 

After some further conversation Mr. Stanley asked if he 
was to go at once. Mr. Bennet answered, " No ; I wish 
you to go to the inauguration of the Suez canal first, and 
then proceed up the Nile. . . . Then you might as well go 
to Jerusalem ; I hear Captain Warner is making some 
interesting discoveries there. Then next to Constantinople, 
and find out about that trouble between the Khedive and 



248 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



the Sultan. Then — let me see — you might as well visit 
the Crimea and those old battle-grounds. Then go across 
the Caucasus to the Caspian Sea ; I hear there is a Russian 
expedition bound for Khiva. From thence you may go 
through Persia to India; you could write an interesting 
letter from Perseopolis. 

" Bagdad will be close on your way to India ; suppose 
you go there and write up something about the Euphrates 
Valley Railway. Then when you have come to India, you 
can go after Livingstone. Probably you will hear by that 
time that Livingstone is on his way to Zanzibar; but if 
not, go into the interior and find him. If alive, get what 
news of his discoveries you can ; and if you find he is dead, 
bring all possible proof of his being dead. That is all: 
good night, and God be with you." 

Mr. Stanley carried out the programme Mr. Bennet 
chalked out for him, and chronicled the incidents of his 
journeyings in the "New York Herald," and arrived in 
India in the month of August 1870. He sailed from 
Bombay for the Mauritius on the 12th of October, and 
after touching at Mahe, an island of the Leychelles group, 
he, in company with William Lawrence Farquhar, mate, a 
Scotchman, and an Arab boy he had picked up to act as 
interpreter, sailed in an American whaling vessel bound 
for Zanzibar, which they reached on the 6th of January 
1871. Captain Webb, the American Consul at Zanzibar, 
after hearing the nature of his mission, entertained him at 
his house, and did all he could to assist him in his prepara- 
tions for the journey he had undertaken. 

The Island of Zanzibar, which is distant from the main- 
land about forty miles, contains a population of about two 
hundred thousand inhabitants, one-half of whom are in the 
town of Zanzibar. The inhabitants consist of Arabs, Ban- 
yans, Mahommedans, Hindis, native Africans, and a con- 
siderable sprinkling of European merchants. The Arabs 



"NEW YORK HERALD" EXPEDITION. 249 



are all engaged in the ivory, gum, copal, and slave trade, 
and most of them have wandered for years in the interior 
of Africa collecting the articles in which they trade, and are 
perfectly familiar with the regions which Dr. Livingstone 
and others have made known to us. It is no uncommon 
thing for an Arab trader to cross the continent from Zanzi- 
bar, Khiva, or Mozambique, to the west coast. They are a 
most reticent class, and although they have gone through 
adventures, and seen sights which would make the reputa- 
tion of a European traveller, they make no allusion to their 
adventures. The Banyans are the most wealthy class, and 
it is with money furnished by them that two-thirds of the 
slave trade is carried on. These Banyans, as Dr. Living- 
stone has so frequently pointed out, are our fellow-subjects, 
and have hitherto carried on their detestable traffic in human 
flesh under the protection of the British flag. No wonder 
that Livingstone found it difficult to get letters to and from 
the coast, and found it next to impossible to get stores and 
articles of absolute necessity delivered in the interior. The 
voice of this prophet in the wilderness of Africa was pro- 
nouncing the death-knell of their trade, and was to be 
stopped at all hazards. He was too conspicuous a man, and 
stood too well with the native tribes to be slain with safety, 
but he might be starved out. Weary waiting and hope de- 
ferred might tire out the iron constitution, and break the 
lion heart, and to this they and their emissaries set them- 
selves. But they had not calculated upon the resolute 
endurance and high courage of the man with whom they 
had to deal ; and the very means they took to stop his voice 
made it tenfold more powerful when, through the aid of Mr. 
Stanley, its story of shame and horror penetrated to the 
ends of the earth. 

Mr. Stanley gives an interesting account of the impedi- 
menta he collected for his journey, after consulting with a 
prey-bearded old Sheikh and several Arab merchants he 



250 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LED. 



introduced him to. Putting the number of his party at a 
hundred, he was informed that ten doti — forty yards of 
cloth per day — would be sufficient for food. About four 
thousand doti of various kinds of cloth were, purchased. 
Next in importance to cloth was the kind and quality of 
beads necessary. These were selected of various colours, as 
only a particular kind or colour of bead would circulate in 
each of the districts through which he had to pass. Wire 
was another important article. Three hundred and fifty 
pounds of brass wire, nearly as thick as telegraph wire, was 
his stock of this important commodity. In addition to 
these he purchased a plentiful supply of provisions, cooking 
utensils, rope, twine, tents, bagging, canvas, tools, ammuni- 
tion, guns, bedding, hatchets, medicines, presents for chiefs, 
boats, &c, &c, until his baggage weighed in all about six 
tons. No wonder he asked himself, " How will it ever be 
possible to move all this inert mass across the wilderness, 
stretching between the sea and the great lakes of Africa 1 " 
He purchased twenty donkeys, each of which would carry 
a load of about a hundred and forty pounds, and the loads 
for the human bearers were made up into bundles of sixty- 
eight pounds each. An armed escort of twenty men, whom 
he designates in his narrative as soldiers, were engaged with 
Bombay, an old servant of Captain Speke's, in his journey 
to Lake Tanganyika as chief. Mabruki and other five of 
Speke's "faithfuls" were also engaged. When his escort 
appeared before him, " they were an exceedingly fine-looking 
body of men — far more intelligent in appearance than I 
could ever have believed African barbarians to be." John 
William Shaw, an Englishman, third mate of an American 
ship, applied for a situation in the caravan, and was engaged. 
The carriers could only be engaged at Bagamoyo, on the 
mainland. 

Mr. Stanley's expedition arrived at Bagamoyo on the 6th 
of February 1871, and his first caravan started on the 16th, 



"NEW YORK HERALD" EXPEDITION. 251 



and the last on the 21st of March, each being under the 
escort of a certain number of soldiers, with one of Speke's 
" faithfuls " at their head. The number of people forming 
the expedition was a hundred and ninety-two. 

In melancholy contrast with this was the fate of a caravan 
despatched by Dr. Kirk for Dr. Livingstone on the 1st 
November 1870. It consisted of thirty-five packages, which 
required as many bearers, and it had not left Bagamoyo on 
the 10th of February. One cannot help thinking that Dr. 
Kirk, knowing the need there was for promptitude if his 
old friend was to be relieved, should have crossed the narrow 
channel to the mainland, and seen it fairly started. Mr. 
Stanley's formidable expedition had been collected together, 
and was on the march within seventy-three days of his 
arrival in Zanzibar, while the Livingstone caravan had 
rested more than that period on the very threshold of its 
journey. The knowledge that another expedition was being 
collected should have stimulated him to see the very needful 
duty that the one under his charge had at least started on 
its journey. No wonder Dr. Livingstone fretted and thought 
that he had been utterly forgotten, when, sick and weary, 
and without the means of going forward, he went and came 
to and from TJjiji, until at last he had perforce to remain 
there until relieved. 

About the middle of April Mr. Stanley reached the town 
of Simbamwenni, which was the largest and most important 
town he came across in his wanderings. It contains a 
population of three thousand. "The houses in the town 
are eminently African, but of the best type of construction. 
The formications are on an Arabic-Persian model, combining 
Arab neatness with Persian plan. Through a ride of nine 
hundred and fifty miles in Persia, I never met a town out- 
side of the great cities better fortified than Simbamwenni. 
. . . Well-built towers of stone guard each corner, iron 
gates, one facing each cardinal point, and set half-way 



252 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



between the several towers, permit ingress and egress for its 
inhabitants. The gates are closed with solid square doors, 
made of African teak, and carved with the infinitesimally 
firm and complicated devices of the Arabs, from which I 
suspect that the doors were either made at Zanzibar or on 
the coast. 

Two days' journey beyond Simbamwenni Mr. Stanley 
had his first attack of fever. Many of his attendants had 
suffered from dysentery and other causes. The rainy season 
had now commenced, and for miles their course was over 
swollen streams and swamps, half-wading, half-swimming 
in the utmost discomfort. The 1st of May found them 
struggling through the mire and water of the Mataka river, 
with a caravan, bodily sick from the exertion and fatigue 
of crossing so many rivers and wading through marshes. 
Shaw was still suffering from his first fever; Zaidi, a 
soldier, was critically ill with the small-pox. Most of the 
others were either really sick or driven to despair by the 
fatigues of the journey. "I was compelled," says Mr. 
Stanley, "to observe that when mud and wet sapped the 
physical energy of the lazily-inclined, a dog-whip became 
their backs, restoring them to a sound — sometimes to an 
extravagant activity." 

In the Ugogo country Mr. Stanley's caravan was joined 
by those of two Arab traders, Sheikhs Thani and Hamed, 
and he had ample opportunity of observing how the Arabs 
are compelled to pay heavy black-mail to every chief who 
is in a position to demand it. The contrasts of travel in 
Africa are very striking. Before reaching the country of 
Ugogo the party had to force their way through thirty 
miles of swamp and flooded streams and moors. The last 
week of travel, before reaching the district of Unyanyembe, 
the party suffered from hunger and thirst, and the heat of 
the sun was all but insufferable. They reached Kwikuru, 
two miles south of Talbor, the chief Arab settlement of 



" NEW YORK HERALD" EXPEDITION. 253 



Unyanyembe, on the 21st of June, and hungry and jaded 
as they were, they managed to enter it with banners flying 
and trumpets blowing, and the discharge of fire-arms. Out- 
side the town they " saw a long line of men in clean shirts, 
whereat we opened our charged batteries, and fired a volley 
of small-arms such as Kwikuru seldom heard before. The 
pagazis (carriers) closed up and adopted the swagger of 
veterans. The soldiers blazed away uninterruptedly, while 
I, seeing that the Arabs were advancing towards me, left 
the ranks, and held my hand, which was immediately 
grasped by Sheikh Sayd-bin-Salim, one of the two chief 
dignitaries of Unyanyembe, and then by about two dozen 
other people, and thus our entree into Unyanyembe was 
effected." 

While here Mr. Stanley was waited upon by the head- 
man of the Livingstone caravan he had sent to Bagamoyo, 
who shewed him a packet of letters addressed to Dr. Living- 
stone, Ujiji, bearing the date of leaving Zanzibar, 1st Novem- 
ber 1870, on it. "From 1st November 1870 to 10th Feb- 
ruary 1871, just one hundred days at Bagamoyo, only 
twenty-five miles by water from Zanzibar. Poor Living- 
stone ! Who knows but he may be suffering for want of 
those very supplies that were detained so long near the sea. 
The caravan arrived in Unyanyembe some time about the 
middle of May. About the latter part of May the first 
disturbance took place. Had this caravan arrived here in 
the middle of March, or even the middle of April, they 
might have travelled on to Ujiji without trouble." 

Here is a sketch of a morning at Unyanyembe, in which 
we are introduced to a native who was destined to excite a 
large amount of interest in England : — 

"In the early morning, generally about 5.30 a.m., I begin 
to stir the soldiers up, sometimes with a long bamboo; for 
you know they are such hard sleepers they require a good 
deal of poking. Bombay has his orders given him ; and 



254 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



Ferajji the cook, who has long ago been warned by the 
noise I make when I rouse up, is told in unmistakable tones 
to bring chai (tea). For I am like an old woman; I love 
tea very much, and can take a quart-and-a-half without 
any inconvenience. Kululu, a boy of seven, all the way 
from Cazembe's country, is my waiter and chief-butler. 
He understands my ways and mode of life exactly. Some 
weeks ago he ousted Selim from the post of chief-butler by 
skill and smartness. Selim, the Arab boy, cannot wait at 
table. Kululu, young antelope, is frisky. I have but to 
express a wish and it is gratified. He is a perfect Mercury, 
though a marvellously black one. Tea over, Kululu cleans 
the dishes, and retires under the kitchen shed, where, if I 
have a curiosity to know what he is doing, he may be seen 
with his tongue in the tea-cup licking up the sugar that was 
in it, and looking very much as if he would like to eat the 
cup for the sake of the divine element it has so often 
contained. 

" And now I am going to say farewell to Unyanyembe 
for a while. I shall never help an Arab again. He is no 
fighting man ; or, I should say, does not know how to fight, 
but knows personally how to die. They will not conquer 
Mirambo within a year, and I cannot stop to see that play 
out. There is an old man waiting for me somewhere, and 
that impels me on. There is a journal far off that expects 
me to do my duty, and I must clo it. Good-bye. I am off 
the day after to-morrow for Ujiji, then perhaps to the Congo 
river." Clearly here was a man who was not to be turned 
aside from his purpose on small or even great occasions. 
He had been sent to find Livingstone, and find him he had 
determined upon, if he was alive. 

When Mr. Stanley arrived at his next camping-ground — 
Mkwenkwe — he found that his attendants, who had gone 
before to make preparations, had deserted in a body and 
returned to Kwihara, To make matters worse> he was 



11 NEW YORK HERALD" EXPEDITION. 255 



suffering from fever. The awkward position in which he 
found himself roused his indomitable pluck, and enabled 
him to throw off the fever which oppressed him ; and the 
men who stood true to him having collected the scattered 
fugitives, after a couple of days' rest he continued his march. 
After reaching Kasegera two of his followers deserted. 
When brought back, he had them tied up and flogged, and 
then fastened them together with a chain. This mode of 
treatment he found to be quite successful in quelling in- 
subordination. He says in regard to it: "I was determined 
to try a new method, not having the fear of Exeter Hall 
before my eyes; and I am happy to say to-day, for the 
benefit of all future travellers, that it is the best method 
yet adopted, and that I will never tread in Africa again 
without a good long chain." A few days after this Shaw, 
the Englishman, broke down, partly from illness and partly 
from fear, and was sent back to Unyanyembe. 

At Ugunda Mr. Stanley had an interview with a friendly 
chief, Mamanyara, " a tall, stalwart man, with a pleasing 
face. He carried in his hand a couple of spears, and, with 
the exception of a well-worn barsati round his loins, he was 
naked. Three of his principal men and himself were in- 
vited to seat themselves on my Persian carpet. They began 
to admire it excessively, and asked if it came from my 
country. Where was my country 1 Was it large 1 How 
many days to it 1 Was I a king 1 Had I many soldiers 1 
were questions quickly asked and as quickly answered ; 
and the ice being broken, the chief being as candid as I was 
myself, he grasped my forefinger and middle-fingers, and 
vowed we were friends. The revolvers and Winchester's 
repeating-rifle were things so wonderful that to attempt to 
give you any idea of how awe-struck he and his were 
would task my powers. The chief roared with laughter ; 
he tickled his men in the ribs with his forefinger; he clasped 
their fore and middle-fingers, vowed that the Masungu 



256 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



(white man) was a wonder, a marvel, and no mistake. Did 
they ever see anything like it before % * No,' as solemnly 
as before. Is he not a wonder ? " 

After a time the character of the scenery changed, and 
this, together with rapid movement, and the almost certainty 
that Lake Tanganyika would be speedily reached, had the 
effect of raising their drooping spirits. 

Pushing onwards, their proximity to the Tanganyika lake 
was evident from the number of streams all tending to- 
wards that goal of their hopes. The neighbourhood of 
these streams was thickly covered with brushwood, and the 
vicinity of these was dreaded by his followers, and not 
without cause. He says : — " The undergrowth of bushes 
and tall grass, dense and impenetrable, likely resorts of 
leopard, lion, and wild boar, were enough to appal the 
stoutest heart. One of my donkeys, while being driven to 
water along a narrow path edged by the awesome brake on 
either side, was attacked by a leopard, which fastened its 
fangs in the poor animal's neck ; and it would have made 
short work of it had not its companions set up a braying 
chorus that might well have terrified a score of leopards. 
And that same night, while encamped contiguous to the 
limpid stream of Mtambu, with that lofty line of enormous 
trees rising dark and awful above us, the lions issued from 
the brakes beneath, and prowled about a well-set bush 
defence of our camp, venting their fearful clamour without 
intermission until morning. Towards daylight they re- 
treated towards their leafy caverns, for — 

' There the lion dwells — the monarch, 

Mightiest among the brutes ; 
There his right to reign supremest 

Never one his claim disputes ; 
There he layeth down to slumber, 

Having slain and ta'en his fill ; 
There he roameth, there he crouchethy 

As it suits his lordly wilL' 



"NEW YORK HERALD" EXPEDITION. 257 



And few I believe would venture therein to dispute it. 
Not I, * i, faith,' when searching after Livingstone." 

Continuing their journey, the party had several weary 
days' march over a country as rocky and sterile as the 
Sierra Nevada, which, in its rocky hills, and dry, stony 
watercourses, reminded Mr. Stanley of the country round 
Magdala. Their provisions were all but exhausted, and 
they were suffering from thirst, and foot-sore and weary, 
when they reached the village of a son of the chief of 
Uzogera, where they were hospitably entertained. From 
this point the country improved at every step, although 
many difficulties had yet to be overcome, the principal of 
which were the heavy tributes exacted by warlike chiefs for 
leave to pass through their territory. Mr. Stanley's account 
of a natural bridge across which the expedition passed with 
safety cannot fail to be interesting. " Fancy," he says, " a 
river as broad as the Hudson at Albany, though not near 
so deep or swift, covered over with water-plants and grasses, 
which had become so interwoven and netted together as to 
form a bridge covering its entire length and breadth, under 
which the river flowed calm and deep below. It was over 
this natural bridge we were expected to cross. Adding to 
the tremor which one naturally felt at having to cross this 
frail bridge was the tradition that, only a few yards higher 
up, an Arab and his donkey, thirty-five slaves, and sixteen 
tusks of ivory, had been suddenly sunk for ever out of sight. 
As one-half of our column had already arrived at the centre, 
we on the shore could see the network of grass waving on 
either side, and between each man ; in one place like the 
swell of the sea after a storm, and in another like a small 
lake violently ruffled by a squall. Hundreds of yards away 
from them it ruffled and undulated, one wave after another. 
As we all got on it, we perceived it to sink about a foot, 
forcing the water on which it rested into the grassy channel 
formed by our footsteps. One of my donkeys broke through, 

17 



258 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



and it required the united strength of ten men to extricate 
him. The aggregate weight of the donkey and men caused 
that portion of the bridge on which they stood to sink about 
two feet, and a circular pool of water was formed. I 
expected every minute to see them sink out of sight. For- 
tunately we managed to cross the treacherous bridge without 
further accident. Arrived on the other side, we struck 
north, passing through a delightful country, in every way 
suited for agricultural settlements or happy mission stations. 
The primitive rock began to shew itself anew in eccentric 
clusters, or a flat-topped rock on which the villages of the 
Wavinza were seen, and where the natives prided themselves 
on their security, and conducted themselves accordingly in 
an insolent and forward fashion, though I believe that with 
forty good rifles I could have made the fellows desert their 
country en masse. But a white traveller's motto in these 
lands is — do, dare, and endure ; and those who have come 
out of Africa alive have generally to thank themselves for 
their prudence rather than their temerity." 

At last their eyes were gladdened by the sight of the 
broad and swift Malagarazi, an influent of Lake Tangan- 
yika. The goal was nearly won ; a few days' march and the 
mighty lake of Central Africa would be spread out before 
their gaze. The principal Sultan of Uvinza, the country 
bordering on the Malagarazi, was Kiala, the eldest son of 
Uvinza. The command of the river gave him great power 
as a leveyer of black-mail from travellers passing through 
his country, which he used to the utmost. After much 
higgling, Stanley had to give ninety-two yards of cloth for 
the privilege of passing through his country. The tribute 
for passing the river had still to be settled, and after a long 
and stormy discussion this was arranged. "Finally," he 
says, "seven doti (twenty-eight yards of cloth) and ten 
pounds of Sam-Sami beads were agreed upon ; after which 
we marched to the ferry, distant half-a-mile from the scene 



" NE W YORK HERALD » EXPEDITION. 259 



of so much contention. The river at this place was not 
more than thirty yards broad, sluggish, and deep. Yet I 
would prefer attempting the Mississippi by swimming 
rather than the Malagarazi. Such another river for croco- 
diles — crocodiles cruel as death — I cannot conceive. Their 
long tapering heads dotted the river everywhere, and though 
I amused myself pelting them with two-ounce balls, I made 
no effect upon their numbers. 

" Two canoes discharged their live cargo on the other side 
of the river, when the story of Captain Burton's passage 
across the Malagarazi higher up was brought vividly to my 
mind by the extortions which now commenced. About 
twenty or so of the chief's men had collected, and backed 
by them he became insolent. If it were worth while to 
commence a struggle for two or three more doti of cloth, 
the mere firing of one revolver at such close quarters would 
have settled the day ; but I could not induce myself to 
believe it was the best way of proceeding, taking in view 
the object of our expedition. And accordingly, this extra 
demand was settled at once with as much amiability as I 
could muster ; but I warned him not to repeat it, and to 
prevent him from doing so, ordered a man to each canoe, 
and to be seated there with a loaded gun in each man's 
hand. After this little episode we got on very well until 
the men, excepting two, besides Bombay and myself, were 
safe on the other side. . . . We then drove a donkey into 
the river, having first tied a strong halter to his neck ; but 
he had hardly reached the middle of the river when a croco- 
dile beneath seized him by the neck and dragged him under, 
after several frantic but ineffectual endeavours to draw him 
ashore. A sadness stole over all after witnessing this 
scene ; and as the shades of night had now drawn around 
us, and had tinged the river to a black, dismal colour, it 
was with a feeling of relief that the fatal stream was crossed 
and we all set foot ashore." 



26o LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



At last they are at " the base of a hill, from the top of 
which the Kirangozi (a native tribe) said we would obtain 
a view of Lake Tanganyika. . . . On arriving at the top, 
we beheld it at last from the spot whence probably Burton 
and Speke looked at it, 'the one in a half-paralysed state 
and the other almost blind/ Indeed, I was pleased at the 
sight, and as we descended, it opened more and more into 
view, until it was revealed at last into a great inland sea, 
bounded westward by an appalling black-blue range of 
mountains, and stretching north and south, without bounds, 
a grey expanse of water." 

After feasting their eyes on this longed-for prospect, they 
hurry on with eager footsteps. " From the western base of 
the hill there was a three hours' march, though no march 
ever passed off so quickly — the hours seemed to have been 
quarters — we had seen so much that was novel and rare to 
us who had been travelling so long in the highlands. The 
mountains bounding the lake on the eastward receded, and 
the lake advanced. We had crossed the Ruche, or Liuche, 
and its thick belt of matete grass ; we had plunged into a 
perfect forest of them, and had entered into the cultivated 
fields which supply the port of TJjiji with vegetables, &c, 
and we stood at last on the summit of the last hill of the 
myriads we had crossed, and the port of TJjiji, embowered 
in palms, with the tiny waves of the silvered waters of the 
Tanganyika rolling at its feet, was directly beneath us. 

" We are now about descending. In a few minutes we 
shall have reached the spot where lives, we imagine, the 
object of our search. Our fate will soon be decided. No 
one in that town knows we are coming — least of all do they 
know we are so close to them ; if any of them ever heard of 
the white man at Unyanyembe, they must believe we are 
there yet. We shall take them all by surprise; for no 
other but a white man would dare leave Unyanyembe for 
Ujiji with the country in such a distracted state — no other 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 261 



but a crazy white man, whom Sheikh, the son of Nasib, is 
going to report to Syed or Prince Binghas, for not taking 
his advice." 

The supreme moment had come at last ; the American flag 
is flung out to the breeze ; muskets are loaded and fired off in 
hot haste to rouse the little town of Ujiji, which as yet know 
nothing of the strange and unexpected visitors now at its 
gates, 11 The flags are fluttered — the banner of America is 
in front, waving joyfully — the guide is in the zenith of his 
glory — the former residents about Zanzibar will know it 
directly, and will wonder, as well they may, as to what it 
means. Never were the stars and stripes so beautiful to 
my mind, the breeze of the Tanganyika has such an effect 
on them. The guide blows his horn, and the shrill wild 
clangour of it is far and wide, and still the muskets tell the 
noisy seconds. . . . The natives of Ujiji . . . and I know 
not where else hurry up by the hundreds to ask what it 
all means, this fusilading, shouting, noise, and blowing of 
horns, and flag-flying. There are Yambos (how-do-you-do's) 
shouted out to me by the dozen, and delighted Arabs have 
run up breathlessly to shake my hand and ask anxiously 
where I come from. But I have no patience with them — 
the expedition goes far too slow ; I should like to settle the 
vexed question by one personal view. Where is he 1 Has 
he fled 1 Suddenly a man, a black man at my elbow, shouts 
in English, 1 How do you do, sir ?' 1 Hallo, who the deuce 
are you 1 ' 'I am the servant of Dr. Livingstone,' he says ; 
but before I can ask any more questions he is running like 
a madman towards the town. 

11 We have at last entered the town. There are hundreds 
of people around me — I might say thousands, without 
exaggeration. It seems to me it is a great triumphal pro- 
cession. As we move, they move ; all eyes are drawn 
towards us. The expedition at last comes to a halt, the 
journey is ended for a time, but I alone have a few more 



262 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 

steps to take. There is a group of the most respectable 
Arabs ; and as I come nearer I see the white face of an old 
man among them. He has a cap with a gold band around 
it ; his dress is a short jacket of red blanket cloth, and his 
pants — well, I didn't observe. I am shaking hands with 
him. We raise our hats, and I say, 'Dr. Livingstone, I 
presume?' and he says, 'Yes.' Finis coronat opus." 

The following description of Dr. Livingstone, as he ap- 
peared to Mr. Stanley at Ujiji, has additional interest for 
us now that its subject has passed away to the land of 
shadows. He says i — M Upon my first introduction to him, 
Livingstone was to me like a huge tome with a most unpre- 
tending binding. Within the work might contain much 
valuable lore and wisdom, b\it its exterior gave no promise 
of what was within. Thus outside Livingstone gave no 
token, except of being rudely dealt with by the wilderness, 
of what elements of power or talent lay within. He is a 
man of unpretending appearance enough, has quiet, com- 
posed features, from which the freshness of youth has quite 
departed, but which retain the nobility of prime age, just 
enough to shew that there yet lies much endurance and 
vigour within his frame. The eyes, which are hazel, are 
remarkably bright, not dimmed in the least, though the 
whiskers and moustache are very grey. The hair, originally 
brown, is streaked here and there with grey over the 
temples, otherwise it might belong to a man of thirty. The 
teeth alone shew indications of being worn out ; the hard 
fare of Louda and Managenia have made havoc in their 
rows. His form is stoutish — a little over the ordinary 
height, with slightly bowed shoulders. When walking, he 
has the heavy step of an over-worked and fatigued man. On 
his head he wears the naval cap, with a round visor, with 
which he has been identified throughout Africa. His dress 
Bhews that at times he has had to resort to the needle to 
repair and replace what travel has worn. Such is Living- 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 263 



stone externally. Of the inner man much more may be said 
than of the outer. As he reveals himself bit by bit to the 
stranger, a great many favourable points present themselves, 
any of which, taken singly, might dispose a man well to- 
wards him. I had brought him a packet of letters, and 
though I urged him again and again to defer conversation 
with me until he had read the news from home and children, 
he said he would defer reading until night; for the moment 
he would enjoy the astonishment which the European caused 
him, and any general world news I could communicate." 

" The hours of that afternoon passed most pleasantly — 
few afternoons of my life more so. It seemed to me as if 
I had met an old, old friend. There was a friendly or good- 
natured abandon about Livingstone which was not lost on 
me. As host, welcoming one who spoke his language, he 
did his duties with a spirit and style I have never seen 
elsewhere. He had not much to offer, to be sure; but what 
he had was mine and his. The wan features, which had 
shocked me at first meeting, the heavy step which told of 
age and hard travel, the grey beard and stooping shoulders, 
belied the man. Underneath the aged and well-spent ex- 
terior lay an endless fund of high spirits, which now and 
then broke out in peals of hearty laughter; the rugged 
frame enclosed a very young and exuberant soul. The meal 
— I am not sure but what we ate three meals that afternoon 
— was seasoned with innumerable jokes and pleasant anec- 
dotes, interesting hunting stories, of which his friends 
"Webb, Oswell, Yarden, and Gordon Oumming were always 
the chief actors. * You have brought me new life,' he said 
several times, so that I was not sure but there was some 
little hysteria in this joviality and abundant animal spirits ; 
but as I found it continued during several weeks, I am now 
disposed to think it natural. . . . Dr. Livingstone is a 
truly pious man — a man deeply imbued with real religious 
instincts. The study of the man would not be complete if 



264 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



we did not take the religious side of his character into con- 
sideration. Mis religion, any more than his business, is not 
of the theoretical kind, simply contenting itself with owning 
all other religions as wrong or weak. It is of the true 
practical kind, never losing a chance to manifest itself in a 
quiet, practical way — never demonstrative or loud. It is 
always at work. It is not aggressive, which sometimes is 
troublesome, and often impertinent. In him religion ex- 
hibits its loveliest features. It governs his conduct towards 
his servants, towards the natives, and towards the bigoted 
Mussulmans even — all who come in contact with him. With- 
out religion, Livingstone, with his ardent temperament, his 
enthusiastic nature, his high spirit and courage, might have 
been an uncompanionable man and a hard master. Religion 
has tamed all these characteristics ; nay, if he was ever 
possessed of them, they have been thoroughly eradicated. 
Whatever was crude or wilful, religion has refined, and has 
made him to speak the earnest, sober truth — the most agree- 
able of companions and indulgent of masters. 

" I have been frequently ashamed of my impatience while 
listening to his mild rebuke of a dishonest lazy servant; 
whereas had the servant been mine, his dishonesty or lazi- 
ness had surely been visited with prompt punishment. I 
have often heard our servants discuss our respective merits. 
'Your master,' say my servants to those of Livingstone, <ig 
a good man — a very good man ; he does not beat you, for 
he has a kind heart ; but ours — oh ! he is sharp — ho as 
fire.' From being hated and thwarted in every possible 
way by the Arabs and half-castes upon his first arriva at 
Ujiji, through his uniform kindness and mild pleasant m- 
per, he has now won all hearts. I perceived that unust al 
respect was paid to him by all. . . . Every Sunday morp 
ing he gathers his flock around him, and he has prayers 
read, not in the stereotyped tone of an English High Church 
clergyman, which always sounds in my ear insincerely, but 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 265 



in the tone recommended by Archbishop Whately — viz., 
natural, unaffected, and sincere. Following these, he de- 
livers a short address in the Kisawahili language about 
what he has been reading from the Bible to them, which 
is listened to with great attention." 

Dr. Livingstone having expressed his determination not 
to return to England until he had completed his task, Mr. 
Stanley asked him why he had come so far back without 
finishing the short task he had to do. 

"Simply," said he, "because I was forced. My men 
would not budge a step forward. They mutinied, and 
passed a secret resolution, if I still insisted on going on, 
to raise a disturbance in the country, and after they had 
effected it to abandon me, in which case I should have been 
killed. It was dangerous to go any further. I had ex- 
plored six hundred miles of the watershed, had traced all 
the principal streams which discharged their water into the 
central line of drainage, and when about starting to explore 
the last hundred miles the hearts of my people failed, and 
they set about frustrating me in every possible way. Now, 
having returned seven hundred miles to get a new supply 
of stores and another escort, I find myself destitute of even 
the means to live but for a few weeks, and sick in mind and 
body." 

After the Arabs had left Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley 
together, the latter says : — " In a very short time a curried 
chicken was received from Mohammed bin Sali, and Moeni 
Kheri sent a dishful of stewed goat-meat and rice ; and thus 
presents of food came in succession; and as fast as they 
were brought we set-to. I had a healthy sublime digestion 
— the exercise I had taken had put it in prime order ; but 
Livingstone — he had been complaining that he had no appe- 
tite, that his stomach refused everything but a cup of tea 
now and then — he ate also — ate like a vigorous, hungry 
man ; and as he vied with me in demolishing the pancakes, 



266 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



he kept repeating, * You have brought me new life. You 
have brought me new life.' 

" { Oh, by jingo ! ' I said, 4 1 have forgotten something. 
Hasten, Selim, and bring that bottle — you know which \ 
and bring me the silver goblets. I brought this bottle on 
purpose for this event, which I hoped would come to pass, 
though often it seemed useless to expect it.' Selim knew 
where the bottle was, and he soon returned with it — a bottle 
of Sillery champagne ; and handing the doctor a silver gob- 
let brimful of the exhilarating wine, and pouring a small 
quantity into my own, I said : — 

" 'Dr. Livingstone, to your very good health, sir.' 'And 
to yours,' he responded smilingly. 

"And the champagne I had treasured for this happy 
meeting was drunk with hearty good wishes to each other. 

" But we kept on talking and talking, and prepared food 
was being brought to us all that afternoon ; and we kept on 
eating each time it was brought, and until I had eaten even 
to repletion, and the doctor was obliged to confess that he 
had eaten enough. Still, Halimah, the female cook of the 
doctor's establishment, was in a state of the greatest excite- 
ment. . . . She was afraid the doctor did not properly 
appreciate her culinary abilities ; but now she was amazed 
at the extraordinary quantity of food eaten, and she was in 
a state of delightful excitement. We could hear the tongue 
rolling off a tremendous volume of clatter to the wondering 
crowds who halted before the kitchen to hear the current of 
news with which she edified them. Poor faithful soul! 
While we listened to the noise of her furious gossip, the 
doctor related her faithful services, and the terrible anxiety 
she evinced when the guns first announced the arrival of 
another white man in Ujiji ; how she had been flying about 
in a state of the utmost excitement, from the kitchen into 
his presence, and out again into the square, asking all sorts 
of questions ; how she was in despair at the scantiness of 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 267 



the general larder and treasury of the strange household ; 
how she was anxious to make up for their poverty by a 
grand appearance — to make up a sort of Barmecide feast to 
welcome the white man. ' Why,' said she, 1 is he not one 
of us ? does he not bring plenty of cloths and beads 1 Talk 
about Arabs 1 Who are they that they should be compared 
to white men ? Arabs, indeed ! ' 

" The doctor and I conversed upon many things, especially 
upon his own immediate troubles, and his disappointments 
upon his arrival in Ujiji, when told that all his goods had 
been sold, and he was reduced to poverty. He had but 
twenty cloths or so left of the stock he had deposited with 
the man called Sherif, the half-caste drunken tailor, who 
was sent by the Consul in charge of the goods. Besides 
what he had been suffering from an attack of dysentery, his 
condition was most deplorable. He was but little improved 
on this day, though he had eaten well, and already began 
to feel stronger and better." 

Mr. Stanley stayed with Livingstone for a considerable 
period; and before they left for Unyanyembe, at which 
place Dr. Livingstone was to await stores and assistance 
from Zanzibar, they set off for the head of the Tanganyika 
to settle the question as to whether the Rusizi is an influent 
or effluent of the lake — a question which was greatly ex- 
citing the minds of geographers at home. 

" It took us," says Mr. Stanley, " ten days' hard pulling 
to reach the head of the lake, a distance of nearly one 
hundred geographical miles from Ujiji; the remaining eight 
we were coasting along the bold shores of Urundi, which 
gradually inclined to the eastward ; the western ranges, 
ever bold and high, looking like a huge blue-black barrier 
some thirty miles west of us, to all appearance impenetrable 
and impassable. If the waters of the Tanganyika could be 
drained out, and we were to stand upon the summit of those 
great peaks which rise abruptly out of the lake, a most 



868 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



wonderful scene would be presented to us. We should see 
an extraordinary deep chasm from five thousand to seven 
thousand feet deep, with the large island Ubwari rising like 
another Magdala from the awful depths around it, for I think 
that the greatest depth of that lake is nearly three thousand 
feet deep. . , . Only two miles from shore I sounded, and 
although I let down six hundred and twenty feet of line 
I found no bottom. Livingstone sounded when crossing 
the Tanganyika from the westward, and found no bottom 
with eighteen hundred feet of line. The mountains around 
the northern half of the Tanganyika fold around so close, 
with no avenue whatever for the escape of waters, save 
narrow valleys and ravines which admit rivers and streams 
into the lake, that were it possible to force the water into 
a higher altitude of five hundred feet above its present 
level, its dimensions would not be increased considerably. 
The valley of the Malagarazi would then be a narrow deep 
arm of the lake, and the Rusizi would be a northern arm, 
crooked and tortuous, of sixty or seventy miles in length. 

" The evening before we saw the Rusizi, a freed man of 
Zanzibar was asked which way the river ran — out of the 
lake or into it \ The man swore that he had been on the 
river but the day before, and that it ran out of the lake. 
Here was an announcement calculated to shake the most 
sceptical. I thought the news too good to be true. I should 
certainly have preferred that the river ran out of the lake 
into either the Victoria or the Albert. The night we heard 
this announcement made so earnestly, Livingstone and my- 
self sat up very late speculating as to where it went. We 
resolved, if it flowed into the Victoria Nyanza, to proceed 
with it to the lake, and then strike south to Unyanyembe, 
and if it flowed into the Albert lake, to proceed into the 
Albert lake and cruise all around it, in the hope of meeting 
Baker. 

"As there was war between the rival tribes inhabiting 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLE Y. 269 



the banks of the Rusizi, the king Mokamba advised us to 
proceed to his brother's village in Mugihewa by night, which 
was situated about eight hundred yards from the river, on 
the right bank. Just after dark we started, and in the 
morning we arrived at Mugihewa. After a cup of coffee 
we manned our canoe, and having prepared our guns we 
started for the mouth of the river. In about fifteen minutes 
we were entering a little bay about a mile wide, and sa-vv 
before us to the north a dense brake of papyrus and match 
cane. 

"Until we were close to this brake we could not detect the 
slightest opening for a river such as we imagined the Rusizi 
to be. "We followed some canoes which were disappearing 
mysteriously and suspiciously through some gaps in the 
dense brake. Pulling boldly up, we found ourselves in what 
afterwards proved to be the central mouth of the river. 
All doubt as to what the Rusizi was vanished at once and 
for ever before that strong brown flood, which tasked our 
exertions to the utmost as we pulled up. I once doubted, 
as I seized an oar, that we should ever be able to ascend ; 
but after a hard quarter of an hour's pulling the rivef 
broadened, and a little higher up we saw it widen into 
lagoons on either side." 

Several times the party were in considerable danger from 
the attacks of the numerous inhabitants on the shores of 
the lake. Mr. Stanley had a slight attack of fever, and 
during its continuance Dr. Livingstone nursed him with 
great care. An amusing incident happened at Mokamba's 
town. 

" Susi, the doctor's servant, got gloriously drunk from the 
chief's liberal and profuse gifts of pombi. Just at dawn 
next morning I was awakened by hearing several sharp 
crack-like sounds. I listened, and found the noise was in 
our hut. It was caused by the doctor, who, towards mid- 
night, had felt some one come and lie down by his side on 



270 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



the same bed, and thinking it was me he kindly made room, 
and lay down on the edge of the bed. But in the morning, 
feeling rather cold, he had been thoroughly awakened, and 
on rising on his elbow to see who his bedfellow was, he 
discovered to his great astonishment that it was no other 
than his black servant Susi, who, taking possession of his 
blankets, and folding them about himself most selfishly, 
was occupying almost the whole bed. The doctor, with 
that gentleness characteristic of him, instead of taking the 
rod, had contented himself with slapping Susi on the back, 
saying, * Get up, Susi, will you ? You are in my bed. How 
dare you, Susi, get drunk in this way, after I have told you 
so often not to do so; get up. You won't? Take that, 
and that, and that.' Still Susi slept and grunted ; so the 
slapping continued, until even Susi's thick hide began to 
feel it, and he was thoroughly awakened to the sense of his 
want of devotion and sympathy for his master, in the usurp- 
ing of even his master's bed. Susi looked very much crest- 
fallen after this expose of his infirmity before the 'little 
master,' as I was called." 

One of the questions left for Livingstone to settle was the 
outlet from Tanganyika, and whether it is or is not connected 
with the Nile drainage by some other channel. 

Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley reached XJjiji on the 
13th of December, and after making the necessary prepara- 
tions, they started for Unyanyembe. 

The Tanganyika lake was first seen by European eyes in 
1858, when Captains Burton and Speke looked down upon 
it from the heights above XJjiji. After a terrible journey 
from Unyanyembe, Captain Speke was nearly blind, and 
Captain Burton was so weak from fever and paralysis that 
for several days he had been carried in a hammock. For 
three hundred years the existence of this great lake had 
been known, and various guesses had been made as to the 
course of its effluent waters. In some maps it was laid 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY, 



271 



down as having a connection with the Nyassa lake ; in 
others it figured as the head-waters of the Congo or the 
Nile — although Livingstone, Stanley, and Captain Grant 
have visited it since the date of Captain Burton's visit, and 
the direction of its outflow is as great a mystery as ever, 
As its waters are sweet it must have an outlet somewhere ? 
and in all likelihood they find an exit by a rent in the 
mountains similar to that through which Livingstone saw 
the Lualaba escaping from Lake Moero through the moun- 
tains of Rua. 

Dr. Livingstone, as we have previously stated, was to 
accompany Mr. Stanley as far as Unyanyembe, there to 
await stores, &c, which he undertook to see despatched 
from Zanzibar in safe and competent custody. Livingstone 
declined to return. He said : "I would like very much to 
go home and see my children once again; but I cannot 
bring my heart to abandon the task I have undertaken 
when it is so nearly completed. It only requires six or 
seven months more to trace the true source that I have 
discovered with Petherick's branch of the White Nile, or 
with the Albert Nyanza of Sir Samuel Baker. Why should 
I go home before my task is ended, to have to come back 
again to do what I can very well do now ? " 

In order to avoid the districts through which Mr. Stanley 
had passed, and in which he had been so heavily mulcted ir 
tribute, the party went south along the east coast of the 
lake, partly on foot and partly by boat, to Urimba, from 
whence they struck across country to Unyanyembe. For 
several days their route lay through unexplored country 
For long distances the dense grass and brushwood, and the 
want of a path, made the progress tedious and difficult. On 
the 17th of January 1872 they reached Imrera, where Mr. 
Stanley and his party had previously camped on their march 
to TJjiji. Both Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley suffered 
from sore feet, which were cut and bleeding from the long 



372 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



and trying march. The doctor's shoes were worn out, and 
cnt and slashed all over to save his blistered feet, and Mr. 
Stanley's were in no better state. They rested for a day, 
and on the 19th Mr. Stanley shot a male and female zebra. 
As they had had no flesh-meat for a considerable time, the 
possession of such an amount of meat had a wonderful effect 
in raising the spirits of their tired-out followers. On the 
21st Mr. Stanley shot a giraffe. This was the noblest 
animal which had as yet fallen to his rifle, but he could not 
feel in his heart that its death was a triumph. "I was 
rather saddened than otherwise," he says, "at seeing the 
noble animal stretched before me. If I could have given 
her her life back I think I should have done so. I thought 
it a great pity that such splendid animals, so well adapted 
for the service of man in Africa, could not be converted 
to some other use than that of food. Horses, mules, and 
donkeys die in these sickly regions ; but what a blessing for 
Africa would it be if we could tame the giraffes and zebras 
for the use of explorers and traders. Mounted on a zebra, 
a man would be enabled to reach TJjiji in one month from 
Bagamoyo, whereas it took me over seven months to travel 
that distance." 

On the 27th the party disturbed a large swarm of bees, 
which stung the men and animals frightfully. This is no 
unusual incident in African travel. A kind of bee, which 
makes its nest among the long grass, when disturbed rushes 
out in vast numbers, and stings every animal within reach. 
There is nothing for it but flight in such circumstances, and 
men and beasts rush from the enraged insects with all the 
speed they may. 

At Mwaru they met a slave of Sayd bin Habib, in charge 
of a caravan for TJjiji. He reported that Mirambo was 
nearly exhausted, and that Shaw, who had been left by Mr. 
Stanley at Unyanyembe, was dead. They also learned that 
several packets of letters, papers, and goods had arrived for 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 



273 



Mr. Stanley from Zanzibar. The doctor also reminded Mr. 
Stanley that, " according to his account, he had a stock of 
jellies and crackers, soups, fish, and potted ham, besides 
cheese, awaiting him at Unyanyembe." Mr. Stanley, who 
had suffered from several attacks of fever, was longing for 
a change of diet, and the prospect of such variety cheered 
him. 11 1 wondered," he says, 11 that people who have access 
to such luxuries should ever get sick and become tired of 
life. I thought that if a wheaten loaf, with a mere pat of 
fresh butter, were presented to me, I would be able, though 
dying, to spring up and dance a wild fandango." 

Arrived at Unyanyembe the two toil-worn travellers found 
welcome letters and newspapers from home. Among other 
letters to Mr. Stanley was one from Dr. Kirk, H.M.'s 
Consul at Zanzibar, requesting him to do all he could to 
push on the Livingstone caravan. It will be remembered 
that Mr. Stanley found it at Unyanyembe as he passed 
through on his way to Ujiji, and it was still there when he 
returned. The man who had gone and relieved Livingstone, 
and was half-way on his return journey when he received 
this request in connection with a caravan which left Zanzi- 
bar two months prior to his own expedition, has soni9 
grounds for the terms in which he speaks throughout hi3 
book of the carelessness of Dr. Kirk. He dryly remarked to 
Dr. Livingstone that the request came too late for his visit 
to Ujiji, but that he had done better — he had brought him 
to the caravan. 

When Dr. Livingstone's boxes came to be opened, Mr. 
Stanley, who had been looking forward to luxuriating on 
all the delicacies of civilisation, was grievously disappointed. 
"We must let him tell the result in his own words ; it is a 
fine commentary on commercial morality, and the watchful 
care of the traveller's friends : — 

"The first box opened contained three tins of biscuits, 
six tins of Dotted hare — tiny things, not much larger than 

18 



274 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



thimbles, which, when opened, proved to be nothing more 
than a table-spoonful of minced meat plentifully sprinkled 
with pepper : the doctor's stores fell five hundred degrees 
below zero in my estimation. Next were brought out five 
pots of jam, one of which was opened — this was also a 
delusion. The stone jars weighed a pound, and in each was 
found a little over a tea-spoonful of jam. Verily we began 
to think our hopes and expectations had been raised to too 
high a pitch. Three bottles of curry were next produced — 
but who cares for curry % Another box was opened, and 
out tumbled a fat dumpy Dutch cheese, hard as a brick, but 
sound and good, although it is bad for the liver in TJnyam- 
wezi. Then another cheese was seen, but this was all eaten 
up — it was hollow and a fraud. The third box contained 
nothing but two sugar loaves, the fourth candles, the fifth 
bottles of salt, Harvey, Worcester, and Reading sauces, 
essences of anchovies, pepper, and mustard. Bless me! 
what food were these for the revivifying of a moribund such 
as I was ! The sixth box contained four sheets, two stout 
pair of shoes, some stockings, and shoe-strings, which 
delighted the doctor so much when he tried them on that 
he exclaimed, * Richard is himself again ! ' « That man, 
said I, * whoever he is, is a friend indeed.' 'Yes, that is 
my friend Waller.' 

" The five other boxes contained potted-meat and soups, 
but the twelfth, containing one dozen bottles of medicinal 
brandy, was gone, and a strict cross-examination of Asmani, 
the head man of Livingstone's caravan, elicited the fact that 
not only was one case of brandy missing, but also two bales 
of cloth and four bags of the most valuable beads in Africa 
— -Sami-sami— -which are as gold with the natives. 

" I was grievously disappointed after the stores had been 
examined. Everything proved to be deception in my jaun- 
diced eyes. Out of the tins of biscuits, when opened, there 
^ras only one sound box, the whole of which would not make 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 



one full meal. The soups — who cared for meat soups in 
Africa? Are there no bullocks, and sheep, and goats, in 
the land from which far better soup can be made than any 
that ever was potted 1 Peas or any other kind of vegetable 
soup would have been a luxury, but chicken and game 
soups ! — what nonsense." 

Asmani, the head man in charge of Dr. Livingstone's 
caravan, had also broken into Mr. Stanley's store-huts at 
Unyanyembe and abstracted cloth and other articles. It 
was evident that if the two travellers had been much longer 
in reaching Unyanyembe the doctor's stores would have 
entirely disappeared. The stolen goods found in posses- 
sion of Asmani were taken from him, and he was at once 
discharged. Nearly one-half of the stores Mr. Stanley had 
brought from Bagamoyo were at Unyanyembe, and the 
greater portion of them were handed over to Dr. Living- 
stone for use in his future journeyings. 

Another caravan of stores that had been prepaid from 
Zanzibar to Ujiji, which had been despatched shortly after 
Dr. Livingstone landed in the country in 1866, or rather 
the miserable remnants of it, was found in the possession of 
an Arab who had been charged with their despatch to Ujiji, 
and handsomely paid for the same. 

On the 14th of March 1872 Mr. Stanley departed for the 
coast, and left Dr. Livingstone at Unyanyembe, who was to 
await there the sending of carriers and some further stores 
for his future journey. He was, thanks to Mr. Stanley, 
well supplied with everything, and could rest in ease and 
plenty until he was joined by the carriers who were to 
accompany him in his march. The parting of these two 
brave men must have been a serious task to both. The 
courageous young man who had succoured the great traveller 
could hardly help thinking that possibly they who had met 
so opportunely in the heart of Africa might never meet 
again J and the dauntless explorer, when he looked his last 



276 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



upon the lithe and active figure of the young man who had 
come to him in his great need, would not fail to think that 
this might be to him the last glimpse — the last visible em- 
bodiment of civilisation he was destined to see. Any feeling 
of this nature would be more than balanced in his enthu- 
siastic nature by the hope that now he had the means of 
completing tho great work which was dearer to him than 
life.. 

Dr. Livingstone accompanied Mr. Stanley for a part of 
the way, and then the moment came when they must part. 
" 1 Now, my dear doctor,' said Mr. Stanley, ' the best of 
friends must part. You have come far enough ; let me beg 
of you to turn back.' 

" ' Well, I will say this to you : you have done what few 
men could do — far better than some great travellers I know. 
And I am grateful to you for what you have done to me. 
God guide you safe home, and bless you, my friend.' 

" * And may God bring you safe back to us all, my dear 
friend. Farewell ! ' ' 

" We wrung each other's hands, and I had to tear myself 
away before I unmanned myself ; but Susi and Chumah 
and Hamoydah — the doctor's faithful fellows — they must 
all shake and kiss my hands before I quite turn away. I 
betrayed myself ! 

" ' Good-bye, doctor— dear friend 1 ' • 

"'Good-bye!' 

" The farewell between Livingstone and myself had been 
spoken. We were parted — he to whatever fate Destiny had 
in store for him, to battling against difficulties, to many, 
many days of marching through wildernesses, with little or 
nothing to sustain him in it save his own high spirit and 
enduring faith in God, who would bring all things right at 
last, and I to that which Destiny may have in store for 
me." 

On the march back Mr. Stanley and his party suffered 



PARTING OF LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 277 



from the flooded state of the country, as the rainy season 
was now on, and more than once they had extreme difficulty 
in passing the swollen rivers. 

On one occasion a native, in wading a stream with the 
box containing Dr. Livingstone's despatches and letters on 
his head, plunged into a hole up to the neck, and Mr 
Stanley for a moment was filled with an awful dread that 
they might be lost. Presenting a loaded revolver at his 
head, he shouted : " Look out ! Drop that box and I'll 
shoot you." The poor fellow's terror was extreme, but 
after a staggering effort he reached the shore in safety. 

The rains being now at their height, the difficulties were 
greater than any Mr. Stanley had as yet experienced. He 
gives a graphic picture of the jungle at one point of their 
journey. He says: — "What dreadful odours and indis- 
cribable loathing this jungle produces ! It is so dense that 
a tiger could not crawl through it; it is so impenetrable 
that an elephant could not force his way ! Were a bottle- 
ful of concentrated miasma such as we inhale herein col- 
lected, what a deadly poison, instantaneous in its action, 
undiscoverable in its properties, would it be ! I think it 
would act like chloroform, and be as fatal as prussic acid. 

" Horrors upon horrors are in it. Boas above our heads, 
snakes and scorpions under our feet. Land-crabs, terrapins, 
and iguanas move about in our vicinity. Malaria is in the 
air we breathe ; the road is infested -with ' hot-water ' ants, 
which bite our legs until we dance and squirm about like 
madmen. Yet somehow we are fortunate enough to escape 
annihilation, and many another traveller might also." 

Arrived at Bagamoyo, Mr. Stanley was soon in communi- 
cation with the heads of the " Livingstone Relief Expedi- 
tion," — Lieutenant Henn, Mr. Charles New a missionary, 
and Mr. Oswell Livingstone, the eldest surviving son of 
Dr. Livingstone. Lieutenant Dawson, the head of the 
expedition, had thrown up his appointment on hearing of 



278 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



the approach of Mr. Stanley. Lieutenant Henn and Mr. 
New, on learning that Dr. Livingstone had been relieved, 
decided to retire from the expedition, but Mr. Osweli 
Livingstone determined to go on with the bearers and 
stores needed to completely equip his father for his further 
journeyings. A few weeks afterwards he decided not to 
go, a decision which now he must bitterly regret. 

The expedition sent to Dr. Livingstone consisted of fifty- 
seven individuals, many of whom had accompanied Mr. 
Stanley to and from TJjiji. The most of them had accom- 
panied Dr. Livingstone on his Zambesi journey. Six Nas- 
sick boys (African lads educated at the Nassick School, 
Bombay), who had been brought by Dr. Livingstone from 
the Shire Valley in 1864, and had volunteered to go with 
Lieutenant Dawson's expedition, were among the number. 
Their names were Jacob Wainwright, John Wainwright, 
Matthew Wellington, Oanas Ferrars, Richard Rutton, and 
Benjamin Rutton. The first of these was destined to 
accompany the remains of his great master to England, and 
stand beside his grave in Westminster Abbey. 

On the 29th of May Mr. Stanley left Zanzibar for Eng- 
land, and within a few days it was known all over the 
civilised world that Dr. Livingstone had been found and 
relieved. 

In addition to the assurance of his being alive, we had 
news of his having been in the far west among friendly 
tribes exploring the western division of the great water- 
shed of Central Africa, of the extent of which he had 
already informed us in his letter to Lord Clarendon of 8th 
July 1868. 

The news of his safety did not come to us in the shape of 
a telegram of a few lines by way of Bombay — tantalising us 
with the scantiness of its information, and the dread that in 
a few days, like many others, it would be contradicted — 
but reached us in the form of a succinct narrative of the 



STANLEY IN ENGLAND. 



279 



meeting of Mr. Stanley and the explorer at Ujiji, their com- 
panionship together for several months, a brief account of 
his discoveries, and an intimation that Mr. Stanley was the 
bearer of letters and despatches from Dr. Livingstone for 
the Government, the Royal Geographical Society, and per- 
sonal friends. As many of the most sangnine believers in 
his ultimate safety had begun to have grave doubts that 
Livingstone's great career had ended, as that of many a 
brave predecessor in African discovery had, the joy and 
satisfaction felt at the certainty of his safety was of the 
warmest description. 

When people had found time to think calmly about his 
safety and the startling nature of the discoveries which he 
had made while lost to our view in the recesses of the 
interior, a feeling of wonder arose that he should have been 
discovered and succoured by a private individual, a young 
man at the threshold of his fourth decade, the correspondent 
of a newspaper, whose only experience in Africa prior to 
this great feat which has associated his name for ever with 
that of the greatest and most successful explorer of ancient 
or modern times, was gained in company with the expedition 
sent by the English Government for the rescue of the 
English prisoners at Magdala. Caravan after caravan 
laden with stores, and accompanied by men intended to be 
of service to the traveller, had been despatched by Dr. 
Kirk, ELM.'s Consul at Zanzibar — the Government and the 
Royal Geographical Society aiding him in his endeavours 
to discover and succour the man in whose fate the whole 
civilised world was interested — in vain. 

As we have seen, an imposing expedition under the 
auspices of the Geographical Society, and handsomely pro- 
vided with means by subscriptions from private individuals 
and corporate bodies, had left this country, and was then 
popularly supposed to be far on it way towards the un« 
known region where its mission could be fulfilled. 



2 8o LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



That Livingstone's safety should be determined, and his 
wants supplied, at the cost of the proprietor of a New York 
newspaper, and through the pluck and daring of one of his 
subordinates, who went at his bidding to look for Living- 
stone in Central Africa just as he would have gone to 
collect news in any of the great centres of European civilisa- 
tion, was a singular way of accomplishing a great object, 
sadly puzzling for a time to many ; and fears were enter- 
tained that the whole was an audacious canard, which only 
a Yankee journalist would dare to perpetrate. By-and-by, 
as the original intelligence came to be supplemented, it 
became apparent that not only was his story true, but that 
this young journalist was one who, in determined courage 
and resolute perseverance, was in every way worthy to take 
his place among the heroes of African discovery and travel. 
When J ames Gordon Bennet, the proprietor of the " New 
York Herald," made up his mind that an effort should be 
made to find Livingstone, and assigned the task to Mr. 
Stanley, it fell into the hands of a man capable of carrying 
out such a thing successfully. No doubt if some Englishman 
or American of fortune had done this thing from a love of 
adventure, or some higher impulse, our ideas of the fitness 
of things would not have been outraged; but there are 
hundreds of capable and adventurous men who cannot afford 
to indulge in heroic impulses of this nature, and it was a 
fortunate thing for Livingstone, and a matter for congratula- 
tion on the part of civilised mankind, that Mr. Bennet had 
such a man on his staff, and had the wisdom to know that 
he was the man who could carry out his wishes, if these 
were possible. 

Mr. Stanley arrived in England on the 1st of August 1872. 
Petty jealousy on the part of professional geographers and 
certain newspapers prompted unworthy doubts as to the 
truth of the story he had to tell, and both in this country 
and in America it was broadly hinted that Mr. Stanley had 



STANLEY IN ENGLAND. 



281 



never seen Dr. Livingstone at all. The day after Mr. 
Stanley's arrival, Lord Granville, and Dr. Livingstone's son 
and daughter, bore testimony to the authenticity of the 
letters and despatches he had forwarded to them. The first 
public appearance made by Mr. Stanley was at the meeting 
of the British Association held at Brighton during the 
third week of August. The geographers had a theory that 
the waters of the region Dr. Livingstone had been exploring 
for five years must find their way to the Congo, notwith- 
standing that Dr. Livingstone stated it as his belief that the 
Lualaba was in reality the Nile. Mr. Stanley's fiery nature 
was thoroughly roused by the storm of doubts and cavils 
which had burst upon him, and he indulged in an amount 
of hard-hitting in reply to the discussion which the reading 
of his paper had evoked, which was thoroughly enjoyed by 
a large and enthusiastic audience. We give a few extracts 
from his address : — 

" Gentlemen of the Geographical Society, — I have been 
invited to deliver an address here before you, or rather to 
read a paper, on the Tanganyika. Responding to that in- 
vitation I came here, but before entering upon that subject, 
which seems to interest this scientific assemblage, permit 
me to say something of your * distinguished medallist' and 
associate, Dr. David Livingstone. I found him in the 
manner already described, the story of which, in brief, is 
familiar to everybody. He was but little impaired in health, 
and but a little better than the * ruckle of bones ' he came 
to TJjiji. With the story of his sufferings, his perils, his 
many narrow escapes, related as they were by himself, the 
man who had endured all these and still lived, I sympathised. 
What he suffered far eclipses all that Ulysses suffered, and 
Livingstone but needs a narrator like Homer to make his 
name as immortal as the Greek hero's ; and to make another 
comparison, I can liken his detractors in England and Ger- 
many only to the suitors who took advantage of Ulysses's 



282 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



absence to slander him and torment his wife. The man 
lives not who is more single-minded than Livingstone — who 
has worked harder, been more persevering in so good a 
cause as Livingstone — and the man lives not who deserves 
a higher reward. 

" Before going to Central Africa in search of Livingstone, 
I believed almost everything I heard or read about him. 
Never was a man more gullible than I. I believed it 
possible that the facetious gentleman's story, who said that 
Livingstone had married an African princess, might be 
correct. I believed, or was near believing, the gentleman 
who told me personally that Livingstone was a narrow- 
minded, crabbed soul, with whom no man could travel in 
peace ; that Livingstone kept no journals or notes, and that 
if he died his discoveries would surely be lost to the world. 
I believed then, with the gentleman, that Livingstone ought 
to have come home and let a younger man — that same 
gentleman, for instance — go and finish the work that Living* 
stone had begun. Also, inconsistent as it may seem — but I 
warn you again that I was exceedingly gullible — I believed 
that this man Livingstone was aided in a most energetic 
manner, that he had his letters from his children and friends 
sent to him regularly, and that stores were sent to him 
monthly and quarterly — in fact, that he was quite com- 
fortably established and settled at Ujiji. I believed also 
that every man, woman, and child in England admired and 
loved this man exceedingly. I was thus deeply impressed 
with these views of things when James Gordon Bennet, 
jun., of the 'New York Herald,' told me in a few words 
to go after Livingstone, to find him, and bring what news 
I could of him. I simply replied with a few monosyllables 
in the affirmative, though I thought it might form a very 
hard task. What if Livingstone refused to see me or hear 
me? 'No matter,' said I to myself in my innocence, 'I 
shall be successful if I only see him.' You yourselves, 



STANLEY IN ENGLAND. 



283 



gentlemen, know how I would stand to-day if I had come 
back from the Tanganyika without a word from him ; some, 
but few, believed me when Livingstone's own letters ap- 
peared. But how fallacious were all my beliefs ! Now that 
1 know the virtue and uprightness of the man, I wonder 
how it was possible that I could believe that Livingstone 
was married to an African princess and had settled down. 
I feel ashamed that I entertained such thoughts of him. 
Now that I know Livingstone's excessive amiability, his 
miid temper, the love he entertains for his fellow-men, white 
or black, his pure Christian character, I wonder now why 
this man was maligned. I wonder now whether Living- 
stone is the same man whom a former fellow-traveller of his 
called a tyrant and an unbearable companion. I wonder 
now whether this is the traveller whom I believed to be 
decrepid and too old to follow up his discoveries, whom a 
younger man ought to displace, now that I have become 
acquainted with his enthusiasm, his iron constitution, his 
sturdy frame, his courage and endurance. 

" I have been made aware, through a newspaper published 
in London called the 1 Standard,' that there are hopes that 
some confusion will be cleared up when the British Associa- 
tion meets, and Mr. Stanley's story is subjected to the sifting 
and cross-examination of the experts in African discovery. 
What confusion people may have fallen into through some 
story I have told I cannot at present imagine, but probably 
after the reading of this paper the * experts ' will rise and 
cross-question. If it lies in my power to explain away this 
• confusion ' I shall be most happy to do so. 

"There are also some such questions as the following 
propounded : — "Why did not Dr. Livingstone return with 
Mr. Stanley 1 Why was the great traveller so uncommunica- 
tive to aU but the ' New York Herald ? ' Why did not the 
relief expedition go on and relieve him ? What has Dr. 
Kirk been doing all the time at Zanzibar 1 Here are four 



284 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



questions which admit of easy solution. To the first I would 
answer, because he did not want to come with Mr. Stanley; 
and may I ask, was Mr. Stanley Dr. Livingstone's keeper, 
that as soon as he found him he should box him with the 
superscription, ' This side up, with care % ' To the second I 
would answer, that Dr. Livingstone was not aware that 
there was another correspondent present at the interview 
when he imparted his information to the correspondent of 
the 'New York Herald.' To the third question I would 
answer, that Dr. Livingstone was already relieved and 
needed no stores. To the fourth question I would reply, 
that Dr. Kirk's relatives in England may probably know 
what he has been doing better than I do. Also, in answer 
to that article in the * Standard' and to some articles in 
other newspapers, I must confess that I cannot see wherein 
those letters of Dr. Livingstone to Mr. James Bennet are 
disturbing, grotesque, or unexpected, unless the editors 
believed that Dr. Livingstone was dead, and that his ghost 
now haunts them and disturbs their dreams. We are also 
told that 'Dr. Livingstone's reports are strangely incoherent;' 
that Sir Henry Rawlinson's letter is 4 most discouraging ; ' 
that the only theory to be gleaned from Dr. Livingstone's 
letter is simply impossible ; that the ' Standard,' echoing 
the opinion of geographers, is more in the ' dark than ever 1 ' 
Here is a field for explanation had one only time to spare 
in such a paper as this to explain. Let us hope the geo- 
graphers who are in the dark will come forward to demand 
to be admitted into the light. 

" But leaving these tremendous questions to a subsequent 
moment, let us now turn our attention to that large body of 
water called the Tanganyika. England is the first and 
foremost country in African discoveries. Her sons are 
known to have plunged through jungles, travelled over 
plains, mountains, and valleys ; to have marched through 
the most awful wildernesses, to resolve the many problems 



ADDRESS BY STANLEY. 



285 



which have arisen from time to time concerning Central 
Africa. The noblest heroes of geography have been of that 
land. She reckons Bruce, Olapperton, Lander, Ritchie, 
Mungo Park, Laing, Baikie, Speke, Burton, Grant, Baker, 
and Livingstone as her sons. Many of these have fallen, 
stricken to death by the poisonous malaria of the lands 
through which they travelled. Who has recorded their last 
words — their last sighs 1 Who has related the agonies 
they must have suffered — their sufferings while they lived % 
What monuments marked their last lonely resting-places? 
Where is he who can point out the exact localities where 
they died? Look at that skeleton of a continent! We 
can only say they died in that unknown centre of Africa—- 
that great broad blank between the eastern and the western 
coasts. 

" Before I brought with me producible proofs in the shape 
of letters, his journal, his broken chronometers, his useless 
watches, his box of curiosities, it was believed by all, with 
the exception of a few, that the most glorious name among 
these geographical heroes — the most glorious name among 
fearless missionaries — had been added to the martyrology 
list ; it was believed that the illustrious Livingstone had at 
last succumbed to the many fatal influences that are ever ab 
work in that awful heart of Africa. 

" It was in my search for this illustrious explorer which 
has now ended so happily — far more successfully than I 
could have anticipated — that I came to the shores of the 
great lake, the Tanganyika. At a little port or bunder, 
called Ujiji, in the district of TJjiji, my efforts were crowned 
with success. If you will glance at the south-eastern shore 
of the Tanganyika you will find it a blank ; but I must 
now be permitted to fill it with rivers, and streams, and 
marshes, and mountain ranges. I must people it with 
powerful tribes — with Wafipa, Wakawendi, Wakonongo, 
and Wanyamwezi. More to the south, ferocious Watuta, 



286 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



and predatory Warori, and to the north, Mana Msengi, 
Wangondo, and Waluriba. Before coming to the Mala- 
garazi I had to pass through southern Wavinza. Crossing 
that river, and after a day's march, I entered Ubha, a broad, 
plain country extending from Uvinza north to Urundi, and 
the lands inhabited by the northern Watuta. Three long 
marches through Ubha brought me to the beautiful country 
of Ukaranga and Ujiji, the Liuche valley, or Ruche, as 
Burton has it. Five miles further westwards brought me to 
the summit of a smooth, hilly ridge, and the town of Ujiji, 
embowered in palms, lay at our feet, and beyond was the 
silver lake, the Tanganyika, and beyond the broad belt of 
water towered the darkly purple mountains of Ugoma and 
Ukaramba. 

"To very many here, perhaps, African names have no 
interest, but to those who have travelled in Africa each 
name brings a recollection — each word has a distinct mean- 
ing; sometimes the recollections are pleasing, sometimes 
bitter. If I mention Ujiji, that little port in the Tangan- 
yika almost hidden by palm groves, with the restless 
plangent surf rolling over the sandy beach, it recalled as 
vividly to my mind as if I stood on that hill-top looking 
down upon it, and where, after a few minutes later, I met 
the illustrious Livingstone. If I think of Unyanyembe, 
naturally I recollect the fretful, peevish, and impatient life 
I led there, until I summoned courage, collected my men, 
and marched to the south to see Livingstone or to die. If 
I think of Ukonongo, recollections of our rapid marches, of 
famine, of hot suns, of surprises of enemies, and mutiny 
among my men, of feeding upon wild fruit, and of a 
desperate rush into a jungle. If I think of Ukawendi, I 
see a glorious land of lovely valleys, and green mountains, 
and forests of tall trees; the march under their twilight 
shades, and the exuberant chant of my people as we gaily 
tramped towards the north, If I think of southern Uvinzaj 



ADDRESS BY STANLEY. 



287 



I see mountains of hematite of iron — I see enormous masses 
of disintegrated rock, great chasms, deep ravines, a bleak- 
ness and desolation as of death. If I think of the Mala- 
garazi, I can see the river, with its fatal reptiles and 
snorting hippopotami ; I can see the salt plains stretching 
on either side ; and if I think of Ubha, recollections of the 
many trials we underwent, of the turbulent, contumacious 
crowds, the stealthy march at midnight through their 
villages, the preparations for battle, the alarm, and the 
happy escape, culminating in the happy meeting with 
Livingstone. There, in that open square, surrounded by 
hundreds of curious natives, stands the worn-out, pale-faced, 
grey-bearded, and bent form of my great companion. There 
stands the sullen-eyed Arabs, in their snowy dresses, girdled, 
stroking their long beards, wondering why I came. There 
Stands the Wajiji, children of the Tanganyika, side by side 
with the Wanyamwezi, with the fierce and turbulent "War- 
undi, with Livingstone and myself in the centre. Yes, I 
note it all, with the sunlight falling softly on the picturesque 
scene. I hear the low murmur of the surf, the rustling of 
the palm branches. I note the hush that has crept over the 
multitude as we clasp hands." 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Livingstone's account op his explorations—his theoby 
op the connection between the lualaba and thb 
nile — horrors op slave trade. 

HE story of Dr. Livingstone's wanderings to-and- 
fro over the vast extent of country, the water- 
shed of which, according to his belief, goes to 
form the Nile and the Oongo, cannot be better 
told than in his own words. Letters to Mr. J ames Gordon 
Bennet, and to Lords Clarendon and Granville, successively 
Foreign Ministers in the English Government, supply ample 
materials, and tell the story of his trials and difficulties, 
and the geographical conclusions he had arrived at up to 
the period of Mr. Stanley's meeting with him in a far more 
graphic and telling manner than any paraphrase of ours 
could pretend to. In his first letter to Mr. Gordon Bennet 
he records his thanks for the great service rendered to him 
by that gentleman : — 

"It is in general somewhat difficult to write to one we 
have never seen. It feels so much like addressing an abstract 
idea; but the presence of your representative, Mr. H. M. 
Stanley, in this distant region takes away the strangeness 
I should otherwise have felt, and in writing to thank you 
for the extreme kindness that prompted you to send him 
I feel quite at home. 

" If I explain the forlorn condition in which he found 
me, you will easily perceive that I have good reason to use 
very strong expressions of gratitude. I came to Ujiji off 
a tramp of between four hundred and five hundred miles 
beneath a blazing vertical sun, having been baffled, worried, 




ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPLORA TIONS, 289 



defeated, and forced to return when almost in sight of the 
end of the geographical part of my mission, by a number of 
half-caste Moslem slaves sent to me from Zanzibar instead 
of men. The sore heart, made still sorer by the truly woe- 
ful sights I had seen of 4 man's inhumanity to man,' reacted 
on the bodily frame, and depressed it beyond measure. I 
thought that I was dying on my feet. It is not too much 
to say that almost every step of the weary sultry way I was 
in pain, and I reached TJjiji a mere ruckle of bones. Here 
I found that some ,£500 worth of goods I had ordered from 
Zanzibar had unaccountably been entrusted to a drunken 
half-caste Moslem tailor, who, after squandering them for 
sixteen months on the way to TJjiji, finished up by selling 
off all that remained for slaves and ivory for himself. He 
had divined on the Koran, and found that I was dead. He 
had also written to the governor of Unyanyembe that he 
had sent slaves after me to Manyema, who returned and 
reported my decease, and begged permission to sell off the 
few goods that his drunken appetite had spared. He how- 
ever knew perfectly well from men who had seen me that 
I was alive, and waiting for the goods and men ; but as for 
morality, he is evidently an idiot ; and there being no law 
here except that of the dagger or musket, I had to sit down 
in great weakness, destitute of everything save a few barter 
cloths and beads I had taken the precaution to leave here 
in case of extreme need. The near prospect of beggary 
among Ujijians made me miserable. I could not despair, 
because I laughed so much at a friend who, on reaching the 
mouth of the Zambesi, said 'that he was tempted to despair 
on breaking the photograph of his wife : we could have no 
success after that.' After that the idea of despair has to 
me such a strong smack of the ludicrous it is out of the 
question. 

"Well, when I had got about the lowest verge, vague 
rumours of an English visitor reached me. I thought of 

19 



LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



myself as the man who went down from Jerusalem to 
Jericho ; but neither priest, Levite, nor Samaritan could 
possibly pass my way. Yet the good Samaritan was close 
at hand ; and one of my people rushed up at the top of his 
speed, and in great excitement gasped out, 'An English- 
man coming ! I see him ! ' And off he darted to meet him. 
An American flag, the first ever seen in these parts, at the 
head of a caravan, told me the nationality of the stranger. 
I am as cold and non-demonstrative as we islanders are 
usually reputed to be, but your kindness made my frame 
thrill. It was indeed overwhelming, and I said in my soul, 
* Let the richest blessings descend from the Highest on you 
and yours/ 

" The news Mr. Stanley had to tell me was thrilling : the 
mighty political changes on the Continent, the success of the 
Atlantic cables, the election of General Grant, and many 
topics, riveted my attention for days together, and had an 
immediate and beneficial effect on my health. I had been 
without news from home for years, save what I could glean 
from a few 'Saturday Reviews' and * Punch' for 1868. 
The appetite revived, and in a week I began to feel strong 
again. Mr. Stanley brought a most kind and encouraging 
despatch from Lord Clarendon, whose loss I sincerely de- 
plore — the first I have received from the Foreign Office 
since 1866 — and information that Her Majesty's Govern- 
ment had kindly sent .£1000 to my aid. Up to his arrival 
I was not aware of any pecuniary aid. I came unsalaried, 
but this want is now happily repaired ; and I am anxious 
that you and all my friends should know that, though un- 
cheered by letters, I have stuck to the task which my friend 
Sir Roderick Murchison set me with John-Bullish tenacity, 
believing that all will come right at last." 

After giving a brief account of his geographical discoveries, 
he says : — " I must go to Unyanyembe at Mr. Stanley's and 
your expense ere I can put the natural completion to m| 



ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPLORATIONS. 



work ; and if my disclosures regarding the terrible Ujijian 
slavery should lead to the suppression of the East Coast 
slave trade, I shall regard that as a greater matter by far 
than the discovery of all the Nile sources together. 

" Now that you have done with domestic slavery for ever, 
lend us your powerful aid towards this great object. This 
fine country is blighted as with a curse from above, in order 
that the slaving privileges of the petty Sultan of Zanzibar 
may not be infringed, and that the rights of the Crown of 
Portugal, which are mythical, should be kept in abeyance 
till some future time, when Africa will become another 
India to Portuguese slave-dealers." 

Dr. Livingstone's despatch, addressed to the Earl of 
Clarendon, gives the best summary of his geographical con- 
clusions up to the time of which we are writing. No single 
letter from any traveller, from the scene of his labours, ever 
recorded so important discoveries. We give it entire :— 

" I wrote a very hurried letter on the 28th ultimo, and 
sent it by a few men who had resolved to run the risk of 
passing through contending parties of Banyamwezi and 
mainland Arabs at Unyanyembe, which is some twenty 
days east of this. I had just come off a tramp of more 
than four hundred miles beneath a vertical torrid sun, and 
was so jaded in my mind by being forced back by faithless 
attendants, that I could have written little more though 
the messengers had not been in such a hurry to depart as 
they were. I have now the prospect of sending this safely 
to the coast by a friend ; but so many of my letters have 
disappeared at Unyanyembe, when entrusted to the care of 
the Lewale, or Governor, who is merely the trade agent of 
certain Banians, that I shall consider that of the 28th as 
one of the unfortunates, and give in this as much as I can 
recall. 

"I have ascertained that the watershed of the Nile is 
a broad upland between 10° and 12° south latitude, and 



LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



from four to five thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
Mountains stand on it at various points, which, though not 
apparently very high, are between six thousand and seven 
thousand feet of actual altitude. The watershed is over 
seven hundred miles in length from east to west. The 
springs that rise on it are almost innumerable — that is, it 
would take a large portion of a man's life to count them. 
A bird's-eye view of some parts of the watershed would 
resemble the frost vegetation on window-panes. They all 
begin in an ooze at the height of a slightly depressed valley. 
A few hundred yards down the quantity of water from 
oozing earthen sponge forms a perennial burn or brook a 
few feet broad, and deep enough to require a bridge. These 
are the ultimate or primary sources of the great rivers that 
flow to the north in the great Nile valley. The primaries 
unite and form streams, in general larger than the Isis at 
Oxford or Avon at Hamilton, and may be called secondary 
sources. They never dry, but unite again into four lines of 
drainage, forming the head-waters of the river of Egypt. 
These four are each called by the natives Lualaba, which, if 
not too pedantic, may be spoken of as lacustrine rivers, ex- 
tant specimens of those which in pre-historic times abounded 
in Africa, and which in the south are still called by Bechu- 
anas 'Melapo;' in the north, by Arabs, 'Wadys;' both 
words meaning the same thing — river-beds in which no 
water ever now flows. Two of the four great rivers men- 
tioned fall into the central Lualaba, or Webb's Lake River, 
and then we have but two main lines of drainage as depicted 
nearly by Ptolemy. 

"The prevailing winds on the watershed are from the 
south-east. This is easily observed by the direction of the 
branches ; and the humidity of the climate is apparent in 
the number of lichens, which make the upland forest look 
like the mangrove swamps on the coast. 

" In passing over sixty miles of latitude, I waded thirty- 



ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPLORATIONS. 



293 



two primary sources from calf to waist-deep, and requiring 
from twenty minutes to an hour-and-a-quarter to cross 
stream and sponge. This would give about one source to 
every two miles. 

"A Suaheli friend, in passing along part of the Lake 
Bangweolo, during six days counted twenty-two from thigh 
to waist-deep. This lake is on the watershed, for the village 
at which I observed on its north-west shore was a few 
seconds into 11° south, and its southern shores and springs 
and rivulets are certainly in 12° south. I tried to cross it 
in order to measure the breadth accurately. The first stage 
to an inhabited island was about twenty-four miles. From 
the highest point here the tops of the trees, evidently lifted 
by the mirage, could be seen on the second stage and the 
third stage ; the mainland was said to be as far as this be- 
yond it. But my canoe-men had stolen the canoe, and got 
a hint that the real owners were in pursuit, and got into a 
flurry to return home. * They would come back for me in 
a few days truly,' but I had only my coverlet left to hire 
another craft if they should leave me in this wide expanse 
of water, and being four thousand feet above the sea it was 
very cold, so I returned. 

" The length of this lake is, at a very moderate estimate, 
one hundred and fifty miles. It gives forth a large body of 
water in the Luapala ; yet lakes are in no sort sources, for 
no large river begins in a lake. But this and others serve 
an important purpose in the phenomena of the Nile. It ia 
one large lake, and unlike the Okara — which, according to 
a Suaheli who travelled long in our company, is three or 
four lakes run into one huge Victoria Nyanza — gives out a 
large river which, on departing out of Moero, is still larger. 
These men had spent many years east of Okara, and could 
scarcely be mistaken in saying that of the three or four 
lakes there only one, the Okara, gives off its water to the 
north. 



294 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



" The { White Nile ' of Speke, less by a full half than the 
Shire out of Nyassa (for it is only eighty or ninety yards 
broad), can scarcely be named in comparison with the 
central or Webb's Lualaba, or from two thousand to six 
thousand yards, in relation to the phenomena of the 
Nile. The structure and economy of the watershed answer 
very much the same end as the great lacustrine rivers, but 
I cannot at present copy a lost despatch which explained 
that. The mountains on the watershed are probably what 
Ptolemy, for reasons now unkuown, called the Mountains of 
the Moon. From their bases I found that the springs of the 
Nile do unquestionably arise. This is just what Ptolemy 
puts down, and is true geography. We must accept the 
fountains, and nobody but Philistines will reject the 
mountains, though we cannot conjecture the reason for 
the name. 

"Mounts Kenia and Kilimanjaro are said to be snow- 
capped, but they are so far from the sources, and send no 
water to any part of the Nile, they could never have been 
meant by the correct ancient explorers, from whom Ptolemy 
and his predecessors gleaned their true geography, so 
different from the trash that passes current in modern 
times. 

" Before leaving the subject of the watershed, I may add 
that I know about six hundred miles of it, but I am not yet 
satisfied, for, unfortunately, the seventh hundred is the most 
interesting of the whole. I have a very strong impression 
that in the last hundred miles the fountains of the Nile 
mentioned to Herodotus by the Secretary of Minerva in 
the city of Sais do arise, not, like all the rest, from oozing 
earthen sponges, but from an earthen mould, and half the 
water flows northward to Egypt, the other half south to 
Inner Ethiopia. These fountains, at so great distance off, 
become large rivers, though at the mould they are not more 
than ten miles apart. That is, one fountain rising on the 



ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPLORATIONS. 295 



north-east of the mould becomes Bartle Frere's Lualaba, 
and it flows into one of the lakes proper, Kamolondo, of the 
central line of drainage ; "Webb's Lualaba, the second foun- 
tain rising on the north-west, becomes (Sir Paraffin) Young's 
Lualaba, which passes through Lake Lincoln, and becoming 
Loeki or Lomame, and joining the central line too, goes 
north to Egypt. The third fountain on the south-west, 
Palmerston's, becomes the Leeambye or Upper Zambesi; 
while the fourth, Oswell's fountain, becomes the Kafue, and 
falls into the Zambesi in Inner Ethiopia. 

li More time has been spent in the exploration than I ever 
anticipated. My bare expenses were paid for two years, 
but had I left when the money was expended I could have 
given little more information about the country than the 
Portuguese, who, in their three slave-trading expeditions to 
Oazembe, asked for slaves and ivory alone, and heard of 
nothing else. From one of the subordinated of their last 
so-called expedition I learnt that it was believed that the 
Luapala went to Angola ! I asked about the waters till I 
was ashamed, and almost afraid of being set down as afflicted 
with hydrocephalus. I had to feel my way, and every step 
of the way, and was generally groping in the dark, for who 
cared where the rivers ran % Many a weary foot I trod ere 
I got a clear idea of the drainage of the great Nile valley. 
The most intelligent natives and traders thought that all 
the rivers of the upper part of that valley flowed into 
Tanganyika. But the barometers told me that to do so the 
water must flow up-hill. The great rivers and the great 
lakes all make their waters converge into the deep trough 
of the valley, which is a, full inch of the barometer lower 
than the Upper Tanganyika. It is only a sense of duty, 
which I trust your lordship will approve, that makes me 
remain, and if possible finish the geographical question of 
my mission. After being thwarted, baffled, robbed, worried 
almost to death in following the central line of drainage 



296 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



down, I have a sore longing for home. I have had a perfect 
surfeit of seeing strange new lands and people, grand moun- 
tains, lovely valleys, the glorious vegetation of primeval 
forests, wild beasts, and an endless succession of beautiful 
mankind ; besides great rivers and vast lakes — the last most 
interesting from their huge overflowings, which explain 
some of the phenomena of the grand old Nile. 

" Let us explain, but in no boastful style, the mistakes of 
others who have bravely striven to solve the ancient prob- 
lem, and it will be seen that I have cogent reasons for 
following the painful, plodding investigation to its conclu- 
sion. Poor Speke's mistake was a foregone conclusion. 
When he discovered the Victoria Nyanza, he at once leaped 
to the conclusion that therein lay the sources of the river of 
Egypt, ' twenty thousand square miles of water,' confused 
by sheer immensity. 

" Ptolemy's small lake * Ooloc ' is a more correct repre- 
sentation of the actual size of that one of three or four 
lakes which alone sends its outflow to the north ; its name 
is Okara. Lake Kavirondo is three days distant from it, 
but connected by a narrow arm. Lake Naibash or Neibash 
is four days from Kavirondo. Baringo is ten days distant, 
and discharges by a river, the Nagardabash, to the north- 
east. 

" These three or four lakes, which have been described by 
several intelligent Suaheli, who have lived for many years 
on their shores, were run into one huge Victoria Nyanza. 
But no sooner did Speke and Grant turn their faces to this 
lake to prove that it contained the Nile fountains than 
they turned their backs to the springs of the river of Egypt, 
which are between four hundred and five hundred miles 
south of the most southernly portion of the Victoria Lake. 
Every step of their heroic and really splendid achievement 
of following the river down took them farther and farther 
from the sources they sought. But for devotion to the 



A CCO UNT OF HIS EXP LOR A TIONS. 297 

foregone conclusion, the sight of the little * White Nile,' 
as unable to account for the great river, they must have 
turned off to the west down into the deep trough of the great 
valley, and there found lacustrine rivers amply sufficient to 
account for the Nile and all its phenomena. 

" The next explorer, Baker, believed as honestly as Speke 
and Grant that in the Lake River Albert he had a second 
source of the Nile to that of Speke. He came farther up 
the Nile than any other in modern times, but turned when 
between six hundred and seven hundred miles of the caput 
tfilu^ He is now employed in a more noble work than the 
discovery of Nile sources; and if, as all must earnestly 
wish, he succeeds in suppressing the Nile slave trade, the 
boon he will bestow on humanity will be of far higher value 
than all my sources together. 

" When intelligent men like these and Bruce have been 
mistaken, I have naturally felt anxious that no one should 
come after me and find such sources south of mine, which I 
now think can only be possible by water running up the 
southern slope of the watershed. 

"But all that can in modern times, and in common 
modesty, be fairly claimed, is the re-discovery of what had 
sunk into oblivion, like the circumnavigation of Africa by 
the Phoenician admiral of one of the Pharaohs, about b.c. 
GOO. He was not believed, because he reported that in 
passing round Libya he had the sun on his right hand. 
This, to us who have gone round the Cape from east to 
west, stamps his tale as genuine. 

" The predecessors of Ptolemy probably gained their in- 
formation from men who visited this very region ; for in the 
second century of our era he gave, in substance, what we 
now find to be genuine geography. 

"The springs of the Nile, rising in 10° to 12° south 
latitude, and their water collecting into two large lacustrine 
rivers, and other facts, could have been learned only from 



i 



298 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 

primitive travellers or traders — the true discoverers of what 
emperors, kings, philosophers, all the great minds of anti- 
quity, longed to know, and longed in vain. 

" The geographical results of four arduous trips in different 
directions in the Manyema country are briefly as follows : — 
The great river, Webb's Lualaba, in the centre of the Nile 
valley, makes a great bend to the west soon after leaving 
Lake Moero of at least one hundred and eighty miles ; 
then turning to the north for some distance, it makes 
another large sweep west of about one hundred and twenty 
miles, in the course of which about thirty miles of southing 
are made ; it then draws round to north-east, receives the 
Lomame or Loeki, a large river which flows through Lake 
Lincoln. After the union a large lake is formed, with many 
inhabited islands in it ; but this has still to be explored. 
It is the fourth large lake in the central line of drainage, 
and cannot be Lake Albert; for assuming Speke's longitude 
of XJjiji to be pretty correct, and my reckoning not enor- 
mously wrong, the great central lacustrine river is about 
five degrees west of Upper and Lower Tanganyika. 

" The mean of many barometric and boiling-point obser- 
vations made Upper Tanganyika two thousand eight hun- 
dred and eighty feet high. Respect for Speke's memory 
made me hazard the conjecture that he found it to be nearly 
the same ; but from the habit of writing the Anno Domini, 
a mere slip of the pen made one thousand eight hundred 
and forty-four feet. But I have more confidence in the 
barometers than in the boiling-points, and they make Tangan- 
yika over three thousand feet, and the lower point of Central 
Lualaba one inch lower, or about the altitude of Gondokoro. 

" Beyond the fourth lake the water passes, it is said, into 
large reedy lakes, and is in all probability Petherick's branch 
— the main stream of the Nile — in distinction from the 
small eastern arm, which Speke, Grant, and Baker took to 
be the river of Egypt. 



ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPLORATIONS. 299 



n In my attempts to penetrate farther and farther I had 
but little hope of ultimate success ; for the great amount of 
westing led to a continual effort to suspend the judgment, 
lest after all I might be exploring the Congo instead of 
the Nile; and it was only after the two great western 
drains fell into the central main, and left but the two great 
lacustrine rivers of Ptolemy, that I felt pretty sure of being 
on the right track. 

"The great bends west probably form one side of the 
great rivers above that geographical loop, the other side 
being Upper Tanganyika and the Lake River Albert. A 
waterfall is reported to exist between Tanganyika and 
Albert Nyanza, but I could not go to it ; nor have I seen 
the connecting link between the two — the upper side of the 
loop — though I oelieve it exists. 

" The Manyema are certainly cannibals, but it was long 
ere I could get evidence more positive than would have led 
a Scotch jury to give a verdict of ' not proven.' They eat 
only enemies killed in war. They seem as if instigated by 
revenge in their man-eating orgies, and on these occasions 
they do not like a stranger to see them. I offered a large 
reward in vain to any one who would call me to witness a 
cannibal feast. Some intelligent men have told me that the 
meat is not nice, and made them dream of the dead. The 
women never partake, and I am glad of it, for many of them 
far down Lualaba are very pretty. They bathe three or 
four times a day, and are expert divers for oysters. 

" The terror that guns inspire generally among the Man- 
yema seem to arise among the Bakuss from an idea that 
they are supernatural. The effect of gun-shot on a goat was 
shewn, in order to convince them that the traders had 
power, and that the instruments they carried were not, a? 
they imagined, the mere insignia of chieftainship. They 
looked up to the skies and offered to bring ivory to purchase 
the charm by which lightning was drawn down ; and after- 



300 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



wards, when the traders tried to force a passage, which was 
refused, they darted aside on seeing Banyamwezi followers 
place the arrows in the bow-strings, but stood in mute amaze- 
ment while the guns mowed them down in great numbers. 
They use long spears in the thick vegetation of their country 
with great dexterity ; and they have told me frankly, what 
was self-evident, that but for the fire-arms not one of the 
Zanzibar slaves or half-castes would leave their country. 

" There is not a single great chief in all Manyema. No 
matter what name the different divisions of people bear — 
Manyema, Balegga, Babire, Bazire, Bakoos — there is no 
political cohesion — not one king or kingdom. Each head- 
man is independent of every other. The people are indus- 
trious, and most of them cultivate the soil largely. We 
found them everywhere very honest. When detained at 
Bambarre, we had to send our goats and fowls to the 
Manyema villages to prevent them all being stolen by the 
Zanzibar slaves ; the slave-owners had to do the same. 

" Manyema-land is the only country in Central Africa I 
have seen where cotton is not cultivated, spun, and woven. 
The clothing is that known in Madagascar as lamba or 
grass-cloth, made from the leaves of the * Muale ' palm. 

" They call the good spirit above Ngulu, or the Great One, 
and the spirit of evil, who resides in the deep, Mulambu. 
A hot fountain near Bambarre is supposed to belong to this 
being, the author of death by drowning and many other 
misfortunes." 

The following graphic account of travel in Manyema-land, 
which occurs in a despatch to Lord Granville, gives a strik- 
ing picture of the country and the difficulties of travel : — 

"The country is extremely beautiful, but difficult to 
travel over. The mountains of light grey granite stand like 
islands in new red sandstone, and mountain and valley are 
all clad in a mantle of different shades of green. The vege- 
tation is indescribably rank. Through the grass — if grass 



ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPLORATIONS. 



it can be called, which is over half-an-inch in diameter in 
the stalk, and from ten to twelve feet high — nothing but 
elephants can walk The leaves of this megatherium grass 
are armed with minute spikes, which, as we worm our way 
along elephant-walks, rub disagreeably on the side of the 
face where the gun is held, and the hand is made sore by 
fending it off the other side for hours. The rains were 
fairly set in by November, and in the mornings, or after a 
shower, these leaves were loaded with moisture which wet 
us to the bone. The valleys are deeply undulating, and in 
each innumerable dells have to be crossed. There may be 
only a thread of water at the bottom, but the mud, mire, or 
' glaur ' ( scottice J is grievous : thirty or forty yards of the 
path on each side of the stream are worked by the feet of 
passengers into an adhesive compound. By placing a foot 
on each side of the narrow way one may waddle a little 
distance along, but the rank crop of grasses, gingers, and 
bushes cannot spare the few inches of soil required for the 
side of the foot, and down he comes into the slough. The 
path often runs along the bed of the rivulet for sixty or 
more yards, as if he who first cut it out went that distance 
seeking for a part of the forest less dense for his axe. In 
other cases, the Muale palm, from which here, as in Mada- 
gascar, grass-cloth is woven, and called by the same name, 
lamba, has taken possession of the valley. The leaf -stalks, 
as thick as a strong man's arm, fall off and block up all 
passage, save by a path made and mixed up by the feet of 
elephants and buffaloes ; the slough therein being groan- 
compelling and deep. 

"Every now and then the traders, with rueful faces, 
stand panting; the sweat trickles down my face; and I 
suppose that I look as grim as they, though I try to cheer 
them with the hope that good prices will reward them at 
the coast for ivory obtained with so much toil. In some 
cases the subsoil has given way beneath the elephant's 



302 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



enormous weight; the deep hole is filled with mud, and 
one taking it all to be about calf deep, steps in to the top 
of the thigh, and flaps on to a seat soft enough, but not 
luxurious ; a merry laugh relaxes the facial muscles, though 
I have no other reason for it than that it is better to laugh 
than to cry. 

" Some of the numerous rivers which in this region flow 
into Lualaba are covered with living vegetable bridges : a 
species of dark glossy-leaved grass, with its roots and leaves, 
felts itself into a mat that covers the whole stream. When 
stepped upon, it yields twelve or fifteen inches, and that 
amount of water rises up on the leg. At every step the 
foot has to be raised high enough to place it on the unbent 
mass in front. This high stepping fatigues like walking on 
deep snow. Here and there holes appear, which we could 
not sound with a stick six feet long ; they gave the impres- 
sion that anywhere one might plump through and finish the 
chapter. "Where the water is shallow the lotus, or sacred 
lily, sends its roots to the bottom, and spreads its broad 
leaves over the floating bridge, so as to make believe that 
the mat is its own ; but the grass referred to is the real 
felting and supporting agent, for it often performs duty as 
a bridge where no lilies grow. The bridge is called by the 
Manyema kinte/wete/we, as if he who first coined it was 
gasping for breath after plunging over a mile of it. 
, "Between each district of Manyema large belts of the 
primeval forest still stand. Into these the sun, though 
vertical, cannot penetrate, except by sending down at mid- 
day thin pencils of rays into the gloom. The rain-water 
stands for months in stagnant pools made by the feet of 
elephants, and the dead leaves decay on the damp soil, and 
make the water of the numerous rivulets of the colour of 
strong tea. The climbing plants, from the size of whip-cord 
to that of a manof-war's hawsers, are so numerous the 
ancient path is the only passage. When one of the giant 



ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPLORATIONS, 



303 



trees falls across the road it forms a wall breast-high to be 
climbed over, and the mass of tangled ropes brought down 
makes cutting a path round it a work of time. 

" The shelter of the forest from the sun makes it pleasant 
but the roots of trees high out of the soil across the path 
keep the eyes, ox-like, on the ground. The trees are so high 
that a good ox-gun shot does no harm to parrots or guinea- 
fowls on their tops ; and they are often so closely planted 
that I have heard gorillas, here called sokos, growling 
about fifty yards off without getting a glimpse of them. 
His nest is a poor contrivance ; it exhibits no more archi- 
tectural skill than the nest of our cushat-dove. Here the 
soko sits in pelting rain, with his hands over his head. 
The natives give him a good character, and from what I 
have seen he deserves it ; but they call his nest his house, 
and laugh at him for being such a fool as to build a house 
and not go beneath it for shelter. 

"Bad water and frequent wettings told on us all by 
choleraic symptoms and loss of flesh. Meanwhile the news 
of cheap ivory caused a sort of Oalifornian gold-fever at 
Ujiji, and we were soon overtaken by a horde, numbering 
six hundred muskets, all eager for the precious tusks. 
These had been left by the Manyema in the interminable 
forests where the animals had been slain. The natives 
knew where they lay, and if treated civilly, readily brought 
them, many half-rotten, or gnawed by a certain rodent to 
sharpen his teeth, as London rats do on leaden pipes. I 
had already on this journey two severe lessons, that travel- 
ling in an unhealthy climate in the rainy season is killing 
work. By getting drenched to the skin once too often in 
Marungo I had pneumonia, the illness to which I have 
referred, and that was worse than ten fevers — that is, fevers 
treated by our medicine, and not by the dirt supplied to 
Bishop Mackenzie at the Cape as the same. Besides being 
unwilling to bear the new comers company, I feared that, 



304 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



by further exposure in the rains, the weakness might result 
in something worse. . . . 

"The rains continued until July, and fifty-eight inches 
fell. The mud from the clayey soil was awful, and it laid 
up some of the strongest men, in spite of their intense eager- 
ness for ivory. I lost no time after it was feasible to travel 
in preparing to follow the river, but my attendants were fed 
and lodged by the slave-women whose husbands were away 
from the camp in trade, and pretended to fear going into a 
canoe. I consented to refrain from buying one. They then 
pretended to fear the people, though the inhabitants all 
along the Lualaba were reported by the slaves to be remark- 
ably friendly. I have heard both slaves and freemen say, 
'No one will ever attack people so good' as they found 
them. Elsewhere I could employ the country people as 
carriers, and was comparatively independent, though deserted 
by some four times even. But in Manyema no one can be 
induced to go into the next district, for fear, they say, of 
being killed and eaten." 

, In a despatch addressed to Earl Granville, dated Ujiji, 
14th November 1871, Dr. Livingstone exposes the fact that 
the slave trade in Central Africa is mainly carried on for 
the benefit of British subjects. He says : — 

"In my letter dated Bambarre, November 1870, now 
enclosed, I stated my grave suspicions that a packet of 
about forty letters — despatches, copies of all the astronomical 
observations from the coast onwards, and sketch maps on 
tracing-paper, intending to convey a clear idea of all the 
discoveries up to the time of arrival at Ujiji — would be 
destroyed. It was delivered to the agent here of the 
Governor of TJnyanyembe, and I paid him in full all he 
demanded to transmit it to Syde-bin-Salem Buraschid, the 
so-called Governor, who is merely a trade agent of certain 
Banyans of Zanzibar, and a person who is reputed dishonest 
by all. As an agent he pilfers from his employers, be they 



THE SLAVE TRADE. 



Banyans or Arabs ; as a Governor, expected to exercise the 
office of a magistrate, he dispenses justice to him who pays 
most ; and as the subject of a Sultan who entrusted him 
because he had no power on the mainland to supersede him, 
he robs his superior shamelessly. No Arab or native ever 
utters a good word for him, but all detest him for his un- 
justice. 

" The following narrative requires it to be known that his 
brother, Ali-bin-Salem Buraschid, is equally notorious for 
unblushing dishonesty. All Arabs and Europeans who have 
had dealings with either speak in unmeasured terms of their 
fraud and duplicity. The brothers are employed in trade, 
chiefly by Ludha Damji, the richest Banyan in Zanzibar. 

" It is well known that the slave trade in this country is 
carried on almost entirely with his money and that of other 
Banyan British subjects. The Banyans advance the goods 
required, and the Arabs proceed inland as their agents, 
perform the trading, or rather murdering ; and when slaves 
and ivory are brought to the coast the Arabs sell the slaves. 
The Banyans pocket the price, and adroitly let the odium 
rest on their agents. As a rule, no travelling Arab has 
money sufficient to undertake an inland journey. Those 
who have become rich imitate the Banyans, and send their 
indigent countrymen and slaves to trade for them. The 
Banyans could scarcely carry on their system of trade were 
they not in possession of the custom-house, and had power 
to seize all the goods that pass through it to pay themselves 
for debts. The so-called Governors are appointed on their 
recommendation, and become mere trade agents. When the 
Arabs in the interior are assaulted by the natives they 
never unite under a Governor as a leader, for they know 
that defending them, or concerting means for their safety, is 
no part of his duty. The Arabs are nearly all in debt to 
the Banyans, and the Banyan slaves are employed in ferret- 
ing out every trade transaction of the debtors J and when 

20 



3o6 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



watched by Governors' slaves and custom-house officers, it is 
scarcely possible for even this cunning, deceitful race to 
escape being fleeced. To avoid this many surrender all the 
ivory to their Banyan creditors, and are allowed to keep or 
sell the slaves as their share of the profits. It will readily 
be perceived that the prospect of in any way coming under 
the power of Banyan British subjects at Zanzibar is very 
far from reassuring." 

No slave-hunters or traders had ever entered the Manyema 
country until about the time of Dr. Livingstone's visit. He 
was destined to see the first horrors consequent upon their 
presence, and his account of what he saw was destined to 
be the prime agent in rousing the Government of this 
country to attempt the complete extinction of the slave 
trade. To the Manyema, as they had no market for it, 
"the value of ivory was quite unknown." As Livingstone 
has already informed us, the natives readily produced the 
hitherto valueless ivory, and handed the tusks over to the 
traders for a few brass or copper ornaments. "I have 
seen," he says, "parties return with so much ivory that 
they carried it by three relays of hundreds of slaves. But 
even this did not satisfy human greed. The Manyema were 
found to be terrified by the report of guns : some, I know, 
believed them to be supernatural, for when the effect of a 
musket-ball was shewn on a goat, they looked up to the 
clouds and offered to bring ivory to buy the charm by which 
lightning was drawn down. When a village was assaulted 
the men fled in terror, and women and children were 
captured. 

" Many of the Manyema women, especially far down the 
Lualaba, are very light-coloured and lovely : it was common 
to hear the Zanzibar slaves — whose faces resembled the 
features of London door-knockers, which some atrocious 
ironfounder thought were like those of lions — say to each 
other 3 « Oh s if we had Manyema wives what pretty children 



MANYEMA WOMEN. 



307 



we should get ! ' Manyema men and women are vastly 
superior to the slaves, who evidently felt the inferiority they 
had acquired through wallowing in the mire of bondage. 
Many of the men were tall strapping fellows, with but little 
of what we think distinctive of the negro about them. If 
one relied on the teachings of phrenology, the Manyema men 
would take a high place in the human family. They felt 
their superiority, and often said truly, c Were it not for fire- 
arms, not one of the strangers would ever leave our country. ' 
If a comparison were instituted, and Manyema taken at 
random, placed opposite, say, the members of the Anthropo- 
logical Society of London, clad like them in kilts of grass- 
cloth, I should like to take my place alongside the Manyema, 
on the principle of preferring the company of my betters. 
The philosophers would look woefully scraggy. But though 
the 'inferior race,' as we compassionately call them, have 
finely-formed heads and often handsome features, they are 
undoubtedly cannibals. 

" It was more difficult to ascertain this than may be ima- 
gined. Some think that they can detect the gnawings of the 
canine teeth of our cannibal ancestry on fossil bones, though 
the canine teeth of dogs are pretty much like the human." 

Sometimes the great traveller met with a cold reception, 
from his supposed connection with Arab slavers and robbers. 
" In going west of Bambarre," he says, " in order to embark 
on the Lualaba, I went down the Luamo, a river of from 
one to two hundred yards broad, which rises in the moun- 
tains opposite TJjiji and flows across the great bend of the 
Lualaba. When near its confluence I found myself among 
people who had been lately maltreated by the slaves, and 
they naturally looked on me as of the same tribe as their 
persecutors. Africans are not generally unreasonable, though 
smarting under wrongs, if you can fairly make them under- 
stand your claim to innocence, and do not appear as having 
your back up. The women here were particularly outspoken 



3o8 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



in asserting our identity with the cruel strangers. On calling 
to one vociferous lady, who gave me the head traitor's name, 
to look at my colour and see if it was the same as his, she 
replied with a bitter little laugh, 1 Then you must be his 
father ! ' The worst the men did was to turn out in force, 
armed with their large spears and wooden shields, and shew 
us out of their district." 

At Bambarre Dr. Livingstone was laid up with ulcers 
on his feet for over six months. He says : — " I found con- 
tinual wading in mud grievous ; for the first time in my life 
my feet failed. When torn by hard travel, instead of 
healing kindly as heretofore, irritable eating ulcers fastened 
on each foot. If the foot is placed on the ground blood 
flows, and every night a discharge of bloody ichor takes 
place, with pain that prevents sleep. The wailing of the 
poor slaves with ulcers that eat through everything, even 
bone, is one of the night sounds of a slave camp. They are 
probably allied to fever. The people were invariably civil, 
and even kind ; for curiously enough the Zanzibar slaves 
propagated everywhere glowing accounts of my goodness, 
, and of the English generally, because they never made 
slaves." Once Livingstone had a narrow escape with his 
life from being found in company with traders who had 
illused the Manyema. On his way to Bambarre he says : — 
"We passed another camp of Ujijian traders, and they 
begged me to allow their men to join my party. These 
included seventeen men of Manyema, who had volunteered 
to carry ivory to Ujiji. These were the very first of the 
Manyema who had in modern times gone fifty miles from 
their birthplace. As all the Arabs have been enjoined by 
Seyed Majid, the late Sultan, to shew me all the kindness 
in their power, I could not decline their request. My party 
was increased to eighty, and a long line of men bearing 
elephants' tusks gave us all the appearance of traders. The 
only cloth I had left some months before consisted of two 



NARROW ESCAPES. 



309 



red blankets, which were converted into a glaring dress, 
unbecoming enough ; but there were no Europeans to see it. 
1 The maltreated men' (Manyema who had been wronged by 
the traders), now burning for revenge, remembered the dress, 
and very naturally tried to kill the man who had murdered 
their relations. They would hold no parley. We had to 
pass through five hours of forest, with vegetation so dense 
that by stooping down and peering towards the sun we 
could at times only see a shadow moving, and a slight rustle 
in the rank vegetation was a spear thrown from the shadow 
of an infuriated man. Our people in front peered into every 
little opening in the dense thicket before they would venture 
past it. This detained the rear, and two persons near to me 
were slain. A large spear lunged past close behind ; another 
missed me by about a foot in front. Coming to a part of 
the forest of about a hundred yards cleared for cultivation, 
I observed that fire had been applied to one of the gigantic 
trees, made still higher by growing on an ant-hill twenty or 
more feet high. Hearing the crack that told the fire had 
eaten through, I felt that there was no danger, it looked so 
far away, till it appeared coming right down towards me. 
I ran a few paces back, and it came to the ground only one 
yard off, broke in several lengths, and covered me with a 
cloud of dust. My attendants ran back, exclaiming, * Peace, 
peace ! you will finish your work in spite of all these people, 
and in spite of everybody ! ' I, too, took it as an omen of 
good that I had three narrow escapes from death in one day. 
The Manyema are expert in throwing the spear ; and as I 
had a glance of him whose spear missed by less than an inch 
behind, and he was not ten yards off, I was saved clearly by 
the good hand of the Almighty Preserver of men. I can 
say this devoutly now ; but in running the terrible gauntlet 
for five weary hours among furies, all eager to signalise 
themselves by slaying one they sincerely believed to have 
been guilty of a horrid outrage, no elevated Bentiment 



LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



entered the mind. The excitement gave way to overpower- 
ing weariness, and I felt as I suppose soldiers do on the 
field of battle— not courageous, but perfectly indifferent 
whether I were killed or not. 

" Geographers will be interested to know the plan I propose 
to follow. I shall at present avoid Ujiji, and go about south- 
west from this to Fipa, which is east of and near the south 
end of Tanganyika; then round the same south end, only 
touching it again at Sambetti ; thence, resuming the south- 
west course, to cross Chambezi and make my way along the 
southern shores of Lake Bangweolo, which being in latitude 
twelve degrees south, the course will be due west to the 
ancient fountains of Herodotus. From these it is about ten 
days north to Katanga, the copper mines of which have 
been worked for ages. . . . About ten days north-east of 
Katanga very extensive underground rock excavations de- 
serve attention as very ancient, the natives ascribing their 
formation to the Deity alone. They are remarkable for 
having water laid on in running streams, and the inhabi- 
tants of large districts can all take refuge in them in case of 
invasion. Returning from them to Katanga, twelve days 
N.N.W., will take me to the southern end of Lake Lincoln. 
I wish to go down through it to the Lomame, and into 
Webb's Lualaba, and home." . . . He says: — "I know 
about six hundred miles of the watershed pretty fairly ; I 
turn to the seventh hundred miles with pleasure and hope. 
I want no companion now, though discovery means hard 
work. Some can make what they call theoretical discoveries 
by dreaming. I should like to offer a prize for an explana- 
tion of the correlation of the structure and economy of the 
great lacustrine rivers in the production of the phenomena 
of the Nile. The prize cannot be undervalued by competi- 
tors even who may have only dreamed of what has given 
me very great trouble, though they may have hit on the 
division of labour in dreaming, and each discovered one or 



OUTLINE OF JO URNE YINGS. 



3ii 



two hundred miles. In the actual discovery so far I went 
two years and six months without once tasting tea, coffee, 
or sugar, and except at Ujiji, have fed on buffaloes, rhino- 
ceros, elephants, hippopotami, and cattle of that sort; and 
have come to believe that English roast beef and plum- 
pudding must be the real genuine theobroma, the food of 
the gods, and I offer to all successful competitors a glorious 
feast of beef-steaks and stout. No competition will be 
allowed after I have published my own explanation on pain 
of immediate execution, without benefit of clergy ! " 

A brief outline of Dr. Livingstone's journeyings, and 
their results up to this period, will enable the reader to 
understand a little more clearly what he has been about 
since he entered South Africa for the third time in 1866. 
From the Lake Nyassa district until he left Cazembe's 
country, he was travelling in regions to some extent known 
to us through his own previous explorations and those of 
Portuguese travellers. Beyond Cazembe's country, either to 
the north or the west, lay a vast extent of country totally 
unknown to Europeans, and of which even the most intelli- 
gent native knew only, and that imperfectly, a narrow hem 
of from fifty to a hundred miles in extent. Cazembe was 
first made known to us by Lacerda, the Portuguese traveller. 
Livingstone found the present ruler of Cazembe to be a 
kingly savage. He describes him as a tall, stalwart man, 
wearing a peculiar kind of dress made of crimson print, and 
worn in many folds in the form of a prodigious kilt, the 
upper part of his body being bare. The statement of the 
traveller, that he was going north in search of lakes and 
rivers, filled him with astonishment. " What can you want 
to go there for 1 " he said. " The water is close here ; there 
is plenty of large water in this neighbourhood ! " Cazembe 
had never seen an Englishman before, and notwithstanding 
that he could not understand this water-seeker, and very 
possibly thought him wrong in the head, or as Livingstone 



312 - LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



puts it, that " he had water on the brain," he gave orders to 
his chiefs and people that the traveller was to be allowed to 
go wherever he had a mind, and treated him with much 
consideration. 

Striking away to the north-east of Oazembe's country, he 
came to a large lake called by the natives Liemba, from the 
country of that name which borders it. Following its 
winding shore to the northwards, he found it to be a con- 
tinuation of Lake Tanganyika. Returning to the southern 
end of the lake, he crossed the Marungu country, and 
reached Lake Moero; and finding its chief influent the 
Luapula, he ascended its course to the point where it flows 
out of Lake Bangweolo or Bemba, a lake nearly as large as 
Tanganyika itself. The most important feeder of this lake 
he found to be the Ohambezi, so that all doubts as to the 
course of that river were set at rest. In the hitherto 
untrodden land to the north this great and constantly 
increasing volume of water pursued its winding course, and 
he braced himself up to the effort of tracing it to a point 
where, under some other name, it was already well known 
to geographers. From this lake Livingstone, in the first 
place, went to Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, where he hoped 
to find stores awaiting him, and where he could recruit 
himself for the fulfilment of the arduous task he had set 
himself to accomplish. From his letters we already know 
how sadly he was disappointed in his hopes of material help 
from Zanzibar. While waiting there among rascally Arab 
traders and their slaves, and equally rascally natives, cor- 
rupted by their association with those worthless representa- 
tives of the civilisation he had been cut off from for nearly 
three years, he longed to explore the shores of Tanganyika, 
and settle the question of its effluent ; but Arabs and natives 
alike were so bent on plundering him for every service 
rendered, ho was compelled to abandon his design. Although 
worn in body, and scantily provided with stores and followers, 



OUTLINE OF JO URNE YINGS. 



he determined, in June 1869, to march across country until 
he should strike the great river which he knew floated 
northwards out of Lake Moero. At Bambarre, in Manyema- 
land, as we know, he was laid up for six weary months with 
ulcerated feet. So soon as he had recovered he set off in a 
northerly direction, and after several days' journey struck 
the main artery of his line of drainage— the Lualaba, a 
imagnificent lacustrine stream, with a width of from one to 
three miles. This great stream pursues so erratic a course, 
flowing northward, westward, and even southwards in wide 
loops, that he was frequently fairly at fault as to its ultimate 
course. Sometimes he thought he was working away at the 
Congo, but at last he was completely satisfied that its course 
was northward. After following it up to its outlet from 
Lake Moero, and confirming its consequent identity with 
the Luapula and the Chambezi, he retraced his steps, and 
saw it loose itself in Lake Kamalondo. As many of the 
great streams on the watershed were named Lualaba by the 
natives, he christened the stream which flows from Lake 
Moero to Lake Kamalondo " Webb's Lualaba," to distinguish 
it, and also to do honour to one of his oldest friends, Mr. 
Webb of Newstead Abbey. 

Several days south-west from Kamalondo he discovered 
another lake called by the natives Chebungo. This is named 
11 Lake Lincoln," in honour of Abraham Lincoln, President 
of the United States during the war of secession. Ita 
principal effluent he named " Young's Lualaba," in honour 
of another fast friend, Mr. Young, of Paraffin oil celebrity — 
"Sir Paraffin," as Dr. Livingstone humorously designated 
him. The waters of Lake Lincoln pass into the Lualaba by 
the river Loeki, or Lomame, 



CHAPTER XV, 



EXPEDITIONS SENT TO ASSIST DR. LIVINGSTONE — HIS DEATH 
AND BURIAL IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 

BOUT November 1872 two Central African ex- 
peditions for the relief and assistance of Dr. 
Livingstone were fitted out in this country, 
and sent, the one to the East and the other to 
the West Coast, with orders to converge, by way of the 
Congo and Zanzibar, on the scene of the traveller's last 
labours. Lieutenant Cameron, R.N., took the command of 
the East Coast expedition, and Lieutenant Grandy, R.N., 
took command of that of the West Coast. Lieutenant 
Cameron's expedition very unfortunately got into difficulties 
through the accidental shooting of a native by one of his 
followers. He was detained at and near Unyanyembe on 
account of the disturbed state of the country, and the bad 
health of the European members of the party. All of them 
had suffered from repeated attacks of fever, and were much 
debilitated in consequence. A grandson of Dr. Living- 
stone's father-in-law, Dr. Moffat, the well-known missionary, 
a very promising young man, fell a victim to fever at an 
early stage of the journey ; and more recently Lieutenant 
Cameron had to report the melancholy intelligence of the 
suicide of Dr. Dillon — another valued coadjutor — while in 
the delirium of fever. 

Towards the end of January 1874, a telegram from 
Zanzibar reported the currency of a rumour there that 
Dr. Livingstone had died near Lake Bangweolo. On the 
11th of February a despatch to the Foreign Office from 




NEW EXPEDITIONS. 



315 



H.M.'s Acting-Consul at Zanzibar stated that letters re- 
ceived from Lieutenant Cameron dated 22nd October 1873 
confirmed the report. 

Many people were unwilling to believe the story of Dr. 
Livingstone's death, even when told so circumstantially, 
and so implicitly credited by Lieutenant Cameron and the 
European officials at Zanzibar. He had been so often re- 
ported as dead, and he had turned up again patiently and 
devoutly carrying out his self-imposed task, that it was 
difficult to believe that the great traveller and distinguished 
Christian missionary had perished when his work was all 
but concluded, and the civilised world was waiting eagerly 
for the opportunity of shewing him how high was the re- 
spect and admiration which his life of heroic self-sacrifice 
had evoked. 

To his infinite honour Mr. Gladstone, within a couple of 
days of his resigning the highest office under the Crown, 
recommended Her Majesty to grant a pension of £2000 per 
annum to the family of Dr. Livingstone. We need hardly 
say that the recommendation was immediately acted upon. 

That he should have died on his homeward journey, after 
nearly a quarter of a century of successful exploration in 
hitherto unknown countries, is a dispensation of Providence 
to which we must reverently bow. His fate forms one more 
instance in the annals of heroic effort and self-sacrifice, 
where the human instrument of God's great purpose has 
been removed in the very hour of success, when rest and 
peace, and human rewards and acknowledgments were 
awaiting him at the close of his stirring conflict. Though 
weary, worn, and broken in body, we may readily believe 
that his undaunted spirit remained to him at the last ; and 
he would be thankful to God that to him had been given a 
rare opportunity of preaching the gospel of his Master to 
thousands of benighted heathens who had never heard of 
their Redeemer. This, and the certainty that, as a result 



3 i6 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



of his labours, the introduction of Christianity and peaceful 
commerce, and the suppression of slavery among the millions 
©f Central Africa, would be only a question of time, would 
reconcile him to the laying down the burden of his life, far 
from home and kindred, among the people he had striven so 
nobly to serve. Of late years the magnitude of his con- 
tributions to our geographical knowledge has all but made 
us forget that he was a Christian missionary to the heathen. 
From early boyhood this was his cherished ambition, and 
from his own published accounts, and through Mr. Stanley, 
we know that he never lost an opportunity of going about 
his Master's work. 

The following brief account of the last moments of Dr. 
Livingstone, which reached England on the 29th March 
1874, was sent by the correspondent of the "New York 
Herald " at Suez : — " The Malwa (Peninsular and Oriental 
steamer) arrived off Suez at eleven o'clock on Saturday 
night, having Mr. Arthur Laing and Jacob Wainwright on 
board with the body of Livingstone. The great traveller 
had been ill with chronic dysentery for several months past, 
although well supplied with stores and medicines, and he 
seems to have had a presentiment that this attack would 
prove fataL He rode on a donkey at first, but was sub- 
sequently carried, and thus arrived at Ilala, beyond Lake 
Bemba (Bangweolo), in Bisa country, when he said to his 
followers, * Build me a hut to die in.' The hut was 
built by his men, who first of all made him a bed. It is 
stated that he suffered greatly, groaning night and day. 
On the third day he said, * I am very cold ; put more grass 
over the hut.' 

" His followers did not speak to or go near him. Kit- 
umbo, chief of Bisa, however, sent flour and beans, and 
behaved well to the party. On the fourth day Livingstone 
became insensible, and died about midnight. Majwara, his 
servant, was present. His last entry in the diary was on, 



LAST MOMENTS. 



317 



27th April. He spoke much and sadly of home and family. 
When first seized, he told his followers he intended to 
exchange everything for ivory to give to them, and to push 
on to TJjiji and Zanzibar, and try to reach England. On 
the day of his death these men consulted what to do, and 
the Nassick boys determined to preserve the remains. 
They were, however, afraid to inform the chief of Living- 
stone's death; and the secretary therefore removed the 
body to another hut, around which he built a high fence to 
ensure privacy. Here they opened the body and removed 
the internals, which were placed in a tin box, and buried 
inside the fence under a large tree. Jacob Wainwright 
cut an inscription on the tree as follows : — 

{ Dr. Livingstone Died on 4th May 1873,' 

and superscribed the name of the dead man. The body was 
then preserved in salt, and dried in the sun for nine days. 
Kitumbo was then informed of Livingstone's death, upon 
which he beat drums, fired guns as a token of respect, and 
allowed the followers to remove the body, which was placed 
in a coffin formed of bark. The Nassick boys then 
journeyed to Unyanyembe in about six months, sending 
an advance party with information addressed to Living- 
stone's son, which met Cameron. The latter sent back a few 
bales of cloth and powder. The body arrived at Unyany- 
embe ten days after the advance party, and rested there a 
fortnight. Cameron, Murphy, and Dillon were together 
there. The latter was very ill, blind, and his mind was 
affected. He committed suicide at Kasakera, and was 
buried there. 

"Here Livingstone's remains were put in another bark 
case, smaller, done up as a bale to deceive the natives, who 
objected to the passage of the corpse, which was thus 
carried to Zanzibar. Livingstone's clothing, papers, and 
instruments accompanied the body. It may be mentioned 



318 LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D, 



that, when ill, Livingstone prayed much. At Ilala he said, 
4 1 am going home.' 

44 After Stanley's departure the doctor left TJnyanyembe, 
rounded the south end of Lake Tanganyika, and travelled 
south of Lake Bemba, or Bangweolo, crossed it south to 
north, then along the east side, returning north through 
marshes to Ilala." 

Surely this is one of the most affecting stories ever told ! 
Feeling that the marvellous physical power which had 
hitherto sustained him had at last given way, he turned his 
face homeward with feverish eagerness. But the end had 
come, and he knew it, and set himself to die among his 
followers as became a hero and a Christian. There is little 
to add to what is already told of the last hours of the great 
traveller. For the last few days of his life he wished to be 
alone, and conversed with none but his two head-men ; but 
all his followers came to the door of his hut every morning 
to greet him. More than once they had to fight before they 
could pass on their way with the body. The donkey on 
which he rode at the last was killed by a lion on the way 
to the coast. 

Dr. Moffat, W. Oswell Livingstone, Henry M. Stanley, 
and other influential gentlemen entered a tug-boat belong- 
ing to the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and steamed 
down the Solent to meet the Malwa. Getting on board, 
they were received by the officers of the ship and the eldest 
son of the late traveller, Mr. Thomas Livingstone, who had 
joined the Malwa at Alexandria. Jacob Wainwright, a 
negro follower of Dr. Livingstone, a squat little fellow, 
barely over five feet in height, was warmly greeted by all. 
He remembered Mr. Stanley, although the change in his 
dress and appearance puzzled him for a moment. He was 
rescued from slavery by Dr. Livingstone in the valley of 
the Shire, on the occasion of his second visit to the countries 
of the Zambesi and the Shires when a mere boy, and was 



FUNERAL SERVICE. 319 

left, along with several other African natives, at the Nas- 
sick School near Bombay, where he was carefully educated 
When the Livingstone Search Expedition under Lieutenant 
Dawson was projected, towards the end of 1871, Jacob 
Wainwright offered to accompany it, and was at Zanzibar 
upon the arrival of Mr. Stanley. 

In the streets a procession, consisting of the Mayor and 
Corporation, the friends of the deceased, the deputation of 
the Geographical Society, and the various public bodies in 
the town, accompanied the hearse containing the remains to 
the railway station, where a special train was waiting to 
convey it to London. "While the procession was in progress 
the church bells rang a muffled peal, and the Hants Artillery 
Volunteers fired minute-guns from the platform battery. 
At "Waterloo Station a hearse and three mourning carriages 
were waiting to convey the body and the friends of the 
deceased to the Geographical Society's rooms in Saville 
Row. In the course of the evening the body was examined 
by Sir William Fergusson, who identified it as that of Dr. 
Livingstone from the disunited fracture on the left arm 
caused by the bite of a lion thirty years ago. 

On Saturday the 18th of April the remains of Dr. Living- 
atone found a resting-place in Westminster Abbey — in that 
valhalla of the greatest and best of England's sons, in which 
there is no name more worthy of the nation's honour than 
that of Dr. Livingstone — the procession and entombment of 
the body being witnessed by thousands of spectators. The 
ceremony within the Abbey was witnessed by a vast number 
of people, many of whom were the leaders in science, litera- 
ture, art, politics, &c. Representatives from Edinburgh, 
Glasgow, Hamilton, and many other parts of Scotland were 
present. The funeral service was read by Dean Stanley. 
The pealing of the organ, and the beautiful rendering of the 
musical portion of the service by the choir, added greatly to 
the beauty and solemnity of the service. On the pall were 



320 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 

placed wreaths and immortelles, one of which was sent by 
Her Majesty. 

A large black marble tombstone was laid over the grave 3 
bearing the following inscription in gold letters : — 

BROUGHT BY FAITHFUL HANDS OVER LAND AND SEA, 
HERE RESTS 

DAVID LIVINGSTONE, 

MISSIONARY, TRAVELLER, PHILANTHROPIST, 
BORN 19TH MARCH 1813, 
AT BLANTYRE, LANARKSHIRE, 
DIED 4TH MAY 1873, 
AT CHITTAMBO'S VALLEY, ILALA. 

TOR THIRTY YEARS HIS LIFE WAS SPENT IN AN UNWEARIED EFFORT TO 
EVANGELISE THE NATIVE RACES, TO EXPLORE THE UNDISCOVERED 
SECRETS, AND ABOLISH THE DESOLATING SLAVE TRADE OF 
CENTRAL AFRICA, 
WHERE, WITH HIS LAST WORDS, HE WROTE, 

" ALL I CAN DO IN MY SOLITUDE IS, MAY HEAVEN'S RICH BLESSING 
COME DOWN ON EVERY ONE — AMERICAN, ENGLISH, TURK— 
WHO WILL HELP TO HEAL THIS OPEN SORE OF THE 
WORLD." 

On the right-hand edge of the stone were the following 
lines : — 

" Tantus amor veri — Nihil est quod moscere malim, 
Quam Fluvii causas per scecula tanta latentes." 

And on the left-hand edge the following text 

" Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, 
They also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice." 



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